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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


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Received          JjLCHlF*          *.i9°.Q.  • 
Accession  No.  O  I J  0  ^-  .    Class  No. 


ECLECTIC  SCHOOL  READINGS 


OUTDOOR   STUDIES 

A  READING  BOOK  OF 
NATURE   STUDY 


BY 
JAMES    G.    NEEDHAM 


NEW  YORK    •:•   CINCINNATI   •:•    CHICAGO 

AMERICAN   BOOK   COMPANY 


Copyright,  1898,  by 
JAMES  G.  NEEDHAM. 

OUTDOOR   STUDIES. 

w.  P.  3 


PREFACE. 


THE  years  that  intervene  between  the  primary  and  the  high  school, 
for  all  of  which  nature  study  is  now  prescribed,  cover  a  very  wide 
period  of  mental  development.  For  the  earlier  years  of  that  period 
there  is  now  no  lack  of  books,  offering  object  lessons,  guides  to  random 
observations,  stories  of  common  things  interweaving  facts  with  inter- 
esting fancies  to  the  edifying  of  imaginative  childhood.  This  little 
book  is  intended  to  supply  for  the  later  years  of  that  period  a  few  les- 
sons of  greater  continuity,  calling  for  more  persistence  of  observation, 
and  introducing  a  few  of  the  simpler  of  our  modern  conceptions  of 
nature  at  large.  These  lessons  presuppose  some  years  of  experience 
of  life  and  some  previous  training  in  observation.  They  are  not  given 
as  stories,  nor  for  the  sake  of  language  lessons  primarily,  but  for  the 
sake  of  the  interest  and  educative  value  of  the  facts  and  phenomena 
of  nature  which  they  set  forth. 

In  writing  them  I  have  had  in  mind  the  boys  and  girls  more  than 
the  teachers.  I  have  written  of  things  I  would  have  the  pupils  see 
and  do  and  think  about,  and  I  trust  no  teacher  will  undertake  to  do 
all  the  seeing  and  doing  and  thinking  for  them.  I  hope  the  sugges- 
tions for  field  study  will  be  found  so  simple  and  explicit  that  pupils 
may  follow  them  individually  and  at  home  whenever  desirable.  Not 
the  least  of  my  objects  has  been  to  pave  the  way  for  more  intelligent 
and  profitable  text-book  work  in  the  high  school,  and  I  am  well  as- 
sured that  that  work  will  be  better  done  for  the  insight  gained  from 
studies  such  as  these. 

Wherever  a  plant  or  animal  is  discussed  in  the  following  pages  a 
number  is  inserted  in  the  text,  referring  to  a  corresponding  number  in 
a  list  of  scientific  names,  which  has  been  relegated  to  the  end  of  the 
book  lest  the  big  names  frighten  any  one.  These  names  will  at  least 

3 


4  PREFACE. 

help  teachers  to  use  the  indexes  of  whatever  scientific  literature  may 
be  available  for  reference. 

To  Mr.  A.  D.  MacGillivray  I  am  indebted  for  determining  the 
names  of  a  number  of  insects.  Mrs.  J.  H.  Comstock  and  Miss  Anna 
A.  Schryver  have  helped  me  with  valuable  suggestions  as  to  the  sub- 
ject matter.  I  have,  as  ever,  to  acknowledge  the  assistance  of  my  wife, 
Anna  Taylor  Needham,  in  the  preparation  of  the  drawings.  A  num- 
ber of  insects  are  figured  for  the  first  time  and  all  the  cuts  are  new. 

This  little  book,  simple  and  elementary  as  it  is,  represents  an 
amount  of  labor  that  is  only  justified  by  my  faith  in  the  future  of  na- 
ture studies  and  in  the  educating  and  refining  influence  they  are  yet 
to  exert  both  in  school  and  out. 

JAMES  G.  NEEDHAM. 

CORNELL  UNIVERSITY. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  I.  BUTTER  AND  EGGS  AND  BUMBLEBEES  7 

1 .  Association 7 

2.  The  Meaning  of  It 10 

CHAPTER  II.  CHIPMUNKS 13 

CHAPTER  III.  HOUSES  THAT  GROW 18 

1.  Galls 18 

2.  Some  Willow  Galls 23 

3.  How  to  Rear  Gall  Makers 26 

CHAPTER  IV.  GOLDENROD:  ITS  VISITORS  AND  ITS  TENANTS.  29 

1 .  Goldenrods 29 

2.  Goldenrod  Visitors 33 

3.  Tenants  that  Live  in  the  Plant 37 

4.  Tenants  that  Live  on  the  Plant 43 

CHAPTER  V.  NOT  so  BLACK  AS  HE  is  PAINTED 47 

1.  Crow  Character 47 

2.  Crow  Wit 50 

CHAPTER  VI.  DRAGON  FLIES 54 

1.  The  Skimmers 54 

2.  Damsel  Flies  and  Darners 61 

3.  How  Dragon  Flies  Grow  up 64 

4.  How  to  Rear  Dragon  Flies 69 

CHAPTER  VII.  BOGUS  EYES 73 

1 .  Eye  Pictures 73 

2.  Larval  Eye-spots 77 

CHAPTER  VIII.  ANT-LIONS 81 

SCIENTIFIC  NAMFS 87 

INDEX 89 


B  A  R  y 


BUTTER   AND    EGGS    AND    BUMBLEBEES. 

I.   ASSOCIATION. 

OT  far  from  my  door — probably 
not  very  far  from  yours  — grows 
the  familiar  roadside  weed  com- 
monly known  as  butter  and  eggs.1 
Little  clumps  of  it  appear  here  and 
there  in  dry,  exposed  places  along 
the  street,  and  in  a  piece  of  waste 
ground  farther  away  a  patch  of  it 
in  full  bloom  looks  like  a  great 
yellow  blotch  on  the  hillside. 

Last  spring,  when  it  expanded 
its  delicate  leaves,  —  hardly  wider 
than  those  of  the  grass,  and  of  a  paler  green,  —  one  who 
did  not  know  would  not  have  thought  this  slender  thing 
a  hardy  native  of  dry  and  sterile  soil,  and  would  not  have 
expected  such  abundance  of  blossoms  as  have  been  pro- 
duced all  summer  long.  Flowers  first  appeared  in  May, 
and  are  abundant  still,  though  frosts  are  near  at  hand. 

What  curious  things  these  flowers  (Fig.  i)  are,  perched 
close  together  alongside  the  top  of  the  stem,  each  with  its 
pouting  yellow  mouth  turned  outward,  and  its  long  hollow 
spur  pointing  down  the  stem !  Why  is  its  mouth  so  tightly 
shut?  Why  that  swollen  palate,  as  it  is  called,  atop  of  the 

7 


8 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


lower  lip,  and  why  its  bright  orange  color?  Why  are  the 
margins  of  the  lips  turned  backward  ?  What  is  the  use  of 
that  long  spur?  One  must  go  to  nature  for  the  answer  to 
such  questions  as  these. 

Pluck  a  single  flower,  and,  holding 
it  up  toward  the  light,  you  will  see  that 
the  hollow  spur  is  partly  filled  with  a 
clear  fluid,  the  upper  surface  of  which 
appears  as  a  faint  line  across  the  spur. 
This  fluid  is  nectar,  the  sugary  sap  with 
which  many  flowers  attract  insects.  At 
first  it  would  seem  strange  that,  if  in- 
tended for  insects,  it  should  be  pro- 
duced in  the  bottom  of  so  deep  a  tube, 
—  a  tube  the  entranceway  to  which  is 
shut.  Observe  that  the  way  is  both 
shut  and  guarded ;  for  the  swollen  pal- 
ate upon  the  lower  lip,  which  presses 
against  the  upper  lip,  closingthe  mouth, 
is  covered  with  minute  spikelike  points, 
all  directed  outward,  as  if  against  intru- 
ders. Yet  here  are  other  things  at- 
tractive to  insects.  Here  are  bright 
colors,  placed  at  the  top  of  the  plant  where  easiest  seen, 
and  intensified  by  the  bunching  of  the  flowers  together; 
and  in  each  pale  yellow  flower,  though  the  way  to  its  nec- 
tar is  closed,  the  point  of  entrance  is  marked  by  the  orange 
blotch.  Here,  too,  is  a  faint  fragrance,  noticeable  of  a  still 
morning  beside  a  clump  of  newly  opened  blossoms,  faint 
to  us,  with  our  dull  noses,  but  doubtless  plainly  perceived 
at  a  distance  by  some  insects. 

In  order  to  discover  the  meaning  of  all  these  things, 


FIG.  1. — Butter  and  eggs. 


BUTTER    AND    EGGS   AND    BUMBLEBEES.  9 

* 

let  us  go  out  some  sunshiny  morning,  to  the  largest  clump 
of  these  flowers  we  can  find  freshly  blooming,  and  see  what 
is  going  on.  We  will  take  our  place  quietly  among  the 
flowers,  and  see  what  insects,  if 
any,  are  visiting  them.  Butterflies 
are  on  the  wing,  but  these  pay  ab- 
solutely no  attention  to  butter  and 
eggs.  Nectar-loving  flies  and  bee- 
tles are  buzzing  about,  visitingother 
flowers, butpassingtheseby.  Bum- 
blebees,2 however,  are  here,  and  are 
visiting  these,  and,  save  for  an  occa- 
sional honeybee,  seem  to  have  the 
exclusive  privilege.  Now  bumble- 
bees are  very  peacefully  disposed 
so  long  as  they  are  not  mistreated  ; 
so  we  sit  down  close  to  the  flowers 
to  see  how  the  bumblebees  get  into 
them.  A  flower  hangs  on  its  stem, 
its  mouth  tightly  closed,  as  at  A 
(Fig.  2).  A  bumblebee  comes  driv- 
ing along,  and,  guided  by  the  orange 
blotch,  alights  squarely  upon  the 
lower  lip.  Under  its  weight  the  lip  descends,  and  the 
mouth  is  opened,  as  at  B.  The  spikelike  points  which 
bar  out  lighter  insects  serve  this  one  for  a  foothold.  It 
clutches  them  with  its  claws,  and  draws  itself  into  the 
opened  way  toward  the  nectary,  as  at  C.  Pushing  its 
long  proboscis  ahead,  it  draws  itself  down  into  the  flower 
until  its  head  is  entirely  hidden  from  view.  Its  front  feet 
are  inside,  too,  beneath  its  head.  The  claws  of  its  middle 
feet  are  caught  in  a  groove  on  the  upper  side  of  the  flower, 


FIG.  2.  — The  bumblebee  work- 
ing his  passage. 


10 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


or  under  the  reflexed  border  of  the  upper  lip ;  those  of  the 
hind  feet,  under  the  edge  of  the  palate,  or  under  the  bor- 
der of  the  lower  lip ;  and  the  bee  is  drinking  its  fill  of  the 
sweet  nectar.  Here,  then,  is  the  answer  to  our  questions. 
This  flower  is  expressly  adapted  to  the  bumblebee.  To 
learn  the  use  of  its  peculiar  structures,  we  need  but  see 
them  used. 

2.  THE    MEANING    OF    IT. 

In  Fig.  3,  at  A,  we  have  a  flower  as  seen  from  the  front, 
its  lower  lip  drawn  downward  so  as  to  expose  the  throat. 
In  the  midst  of  the  orange-colored  palate  we  see  exposed 

a  narrow  lane,  which  is  bordered 
on  either  side  by  a  hedge  of  yellow 
prickles.  Down  this  lane  the 
proboscis  of  the  bee  is  pushed,  a 
straight  road  to  the  nectar.  At 
B  we  have  the  head  of  the  bum- 
blebee seen  from  the  front,  its 
proboscis  extended.  Imagine 
this  head  turned  to  face  the  flow- 
er and  pushed  down  into  it ;  see 
how  well  adapted  it  is  for  reach- 
ing the  nectar. 

Everything  about  the  flower  is 
just  right  for  the  bumblebee.  Col- 
ors guide  it  to  the  right  spot ;  the 
mouth  opens  under  its  weight, 
exposing  the  way  to  the  nectar ; 

FIG.  3.—  A,  the  flower  with   its  J 

lower  lip  drawn  downward,  show-   the    grooves    and    margins    are 

ing  the  way  to  the  nectar ;  also,  ex- 
posing stamens  and  pistil  against  placed  conveniently  for  catching 


the  erect  upper  lip.  B,  the  head  of 
the  bumblebee  with  its  proboscis 
extended. 


its  feet  to  support  its  weight. 


BUTTER    AND    EGGS   AND    BUMBLEBEES.  I  I 

A  honeybee 3  alights  on  a  flower.  It  is  not  heavy  enough 
to  "  tip  the  beam ;  "  the  mouth  is  opened  but  slightly,  if 
at  all.  It  thrusts  its  slender  proboscis  into  the  smooth 
way  down  the  palate.  This  is  an  entering  wedge,  and  by 
dint  of  hard  and  continued  pushing  it  at  length  forces 
admittance,  and,  once  inside,  readily  obtains  the  nectar. 
But  this  flower  is  not  made  for  such  a  light  weight.  The 
honeybee  has  to  work  too  hard  for  the  nectar  it  gets  here ; 
and  when  flowers  and  nectar  are  plenty,  it  visits  others 
better  adapted  to  its  size. 

Other  nectar-loving  insects  are  too  light  weight  to  open 
the  flowers,  or  too  weak  to  force  an  entrance  against  the 
spines  of,  the  palate,  or  lack  a  proboscis  long  enough  to 
reach  the  nectar.  This  is  why  the  bumblebee  has  a 
monopoly. 

But  this  perfect  adaptation  is  not  all  for  the  benefit  of 
the  bumblebee.  The  bumblebee  has  a  work  to  do  for  the 
flowers  which  hardly  any  other  insect  can  do  so  well. 

The  purpose  of  the  flower  is  to  produce  seed.  The 
parts  of  the  flower  directly  concerned  in  the  production 
of  seed  may  be  seen  by  drawing  down  the  lower  lip,  as  in 
Fig.  3,  and  looking  under  the  overarching  portion  of  the 
upper  lip.  The  central  piece,  with  moist,  whitish,  expanded 
tip,  is  the  pistil.  In  its  base  the  seeds  develop.  The 
four  others,  in  pairs,  above  and  below  the  pistil,  are  sta- 
mens. In  their  expanded  tips  is  a  yellow,  sticky  sub- 
stance, called  pollen.  In  order  that  seeds  may  be  pro- 
duced, it  is  necessary  that  pollen  taken  from  the  tops  of 
the  stamens  be  placed  on  the  top  of  the  pistil,  and  it  is 
better  if  the  pollen  be  brought  from  the  stamens  of  an- 
other flower. 

The  bumblebee  brings  the  pollen. 


12 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


If  we  capture  with  a  net  and  kill  in  a  cyanide  bottle  a 
bumblebee  (or  a  honeybee)  that  has  been  visiting  flowers 
of  butter  and  eggs,  we  find  the  stiff,  bristly  hairs  of  the 
top  of  its  body  matted  together  in  a  waxy  mass  of  pollen 

gathered  from  many  stamens 
(see  Fig.  4,  pm).  Referring  to 
Fig.  3,  At  and  Fig.  2,  B  and  C, 
we  see  that  the  tops  of  the  sta- 
mens and  pistil  are  placed  ex- 
actly at  the  point  where  this  part 
of  the  insect  will  be  crowded 
against  them  when  it  has  fully 
entered  the  flower.  What  could 
be  better  adapted  for  extracting 
the  sticky  pollen,  or  for  deposit- 

FIG.  4.  — Bumblebee;  pm,  the  pol- 
len mass  that  is  rubbed  against  the    inpr  some  of  it  On  the  pistil,  than 
pistil  of  the  flower;  pb,  pollen  basket.         & 

this  brush  of  stiff  bristles  ? 

On  the  outside  of  the  hind  leg  of  the  bumblebee  is  a 
hollowed  space,  bordered  by  a  fringe  of  stiff,  erect  hairs, 
commonly  called  the  pollen  basket  (see  Fig.  4,  pb).  In 
this  we  will  very  often  find  another  mass  of  pollen,  which 
the  bumblebee  has  placed  here  to  carry  home  for  food 
for  the  babies  of  her  household. 

This  is  going  on  not  far  from  my  door  and  yours.  Have 
you  seen  it?  If  not,  visit  a  clump  of  butter  and  eggs 
some  sunshiny  morning,  watch  carefully  and  patiently  to 
see  what  is  going  on,  and  learn  a  lesson  which  may  only 
be  well  learned  out  of  doors. 


CHIPMUNKS. 


OWN  among  the  beech  trees, 
on  the  north  slope  of  a  rocky 
hill,  there  is  a  shaded  path 
which  I  follow  when  I  want  to 

„  — *  ,-      see  my  old  friends  the  chip- 

•  /  -J3S&**  »»^  \  pC   \ 

/  /  fcj^BflT  s     J    mun^s  at  h°me-     I  might  find 

I          .^^mK^±=^ —       them   elsewhere,   to  be  sure. 

Everywhere  in  the  woods  where  shadows  are  heavy  and 
banks  are  steep,  especially  where  old  stumps  and  logs 
occur,  they  are  likely  to  be  seen  by  one  looking  for  them. 
But  this  particular  slope,  with  its  dense  shadow  of  beech, 
chestnut  oak,  and  pine,  with  its  patched  carpet  of  leaf  mold, 
torn  upon  jutting  stones,  and  overspread  here  and  there 
with  mats  of  moss,  lichen,  and  fern,  is  a  very  congenial 
home  for  them. 

Every  creature  has  some  sort  of  place  in  which  it  thrives 
best;  and  chipmunks  could  no  more  flourish  on  the  open 
uplands  than  could  the  jack-in-the-pulpits  and  ferns  of 
their  own  shady  slopes. 

Chipmunks  4  are  our  smallest  representatives  of  the  squir- 
rel family.  They  are  sometimes  called  ground  squirrels; 
but  that  name  is  better  applied  to  the  larger  burrowing 
squirrels  of  the  fields.  They  are  always  something  less 

13 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


than   a   foot   long  (including  the  shaggy  tail),  of  a  rusty, 
red-brown  color  above,  white  below,  and  are  readily  dis- 
tinguished from  other  small  animals  by  the  presence  of 
five  black  and  two  white  stripes  upon  the 
back.    The  form  is  slender  and  graceful ; 
the  fur  is  short  and  glossy.     The  tail, 
though  rather  long  for  a  burrower,  is  not 

Fl%f5the°MWmnu*kteeth  ver7  Dusny;  a  magnificent  brush  like  that 
of  a  fox  squirrel  would  be  a  very  incon- 
venient appendage  for  a  chipmunk  to  have  to  trail  in  wet 
weather  down  the  damp  way  to  the  door  of  his  lowly 
dwelling.  The  teeth,  that  is,  the  front  ones  (shown  in 
Fig.  5),  are  slender,  curved  chisels,  very  sharp,  and  strong 
enough  to  cut  easily  through  the  hard  shells  of  acorns  and 
nuts  and  the  bark  of  underground  stems. 

Chipmunks  are  most  likely  to  be  seen  about  old  logs  and 
stumps  that  are  red  with  decay  and  crumbling,  though  an 
old  rail  fence  or  a  stone 
wall  is  often  their  resort. 
It  is  no  accident  that  we 
find  them  oftenest  about 
old  stumps ;  the  rusty 
red  of  their  fur  matches 
the  color  of  the  rotten 
wood,  and  they  escape 
the  notice  of  their  many 
powerful  enemies.  Even 
the  conspicuous  stripes 

of  black  and  white  fall  into  place  as  lights  and  shadows, 
and  tell  no  tales  of  their  presence. 

If  any  other  word  is  needed  to  tell  one  who  has  not  seen 
these  pretty  creatures  how  to  find  them,  it  may  be  said 


FIG.  6.  — Playtime. 


CHIPMUNKS. 


that  it  is  necessary  to  walk  quietly  and  to  watch  carefully 
to  see  them  scampering  over  the  leaves  among  the  under- 
brush on  the  ground,  or  over  fallen  trees  or  stones.  They 
are  likely  to  stop  in  exposed  places,  depending  upon  their 
color  for  protection.  They  stop  stock-still,  and  remain  so, 
and  if  not  first  seen  in  motion  will  not  be  seen  at  all. 
Opera  glasses,  though 
not  necessary,  will  be 
of  delightful  assistance 
here,  as  in  field  study 
of  birds. 

Many  a  time  I  have 
thrown  a  stone  to  dis- 
cover whether  a  seem- 
ing brown  snag  on  an 
old  log  were  really 
alive.  More  than  once 
I  have  seen  a  chipmunk 
sitting  on  the  top  of 
a  tall  stump,  where, 

against  a  background  of  green  leaves,  it  was  readily  seen, 
and  have  approached  so  closely  I  thought  it  must  be 
asleep ;  but,  on  taking  a  step  nearer,  it  proved  to  me  how 
very  wide  awake  it  had  been  all  the  time. 

Where  are  the  homes  of  these  little  fellows?  Down  on 
the  hillside,  not  hard  to  find,  holes  here  and  there,  under 
a  stone  or  tussock  of  moss  or  root  of  a  tree, —  these  are  the 
vestibules  of  their  houses  (Fig.  7).  We  walk  hastily  through 
the  woods.  A  brown  shadow  scurries  across  the  dead 
leaves,  and  stops  instantly,  bolt  upright,  in  so  stiff  a  position 
we  should  not  now  recognize  it  had  not  our  eyes  been  con- 
stantly upon  it.  We  approach  very  near,  and,  like  a  flash, 


FIG.  7.— At  the  foot  of  the  beech  tree. 


1 6  OUTDOOR   STUDIES. 

the  shadow  disappears  in  the  earth.  And  there,  under  a 
broad,  loose  stone,  we  see  the  mouth  of  its  burrow.  It 
stopped  in  its  flight  where,  if  pursued  farther,  a  single 
bound  would  carry  it  safe  into  its  retreat.  We  pick  up  a 
stick  and  overturn  the  stone,  unroofing  its  shelter.  Away 
darts  the  shadow  again,  and  into  another  and  safer  retreat. 
What  sort  of  a  house  have  we  found  ?  A  narrow,  crooked 
passage  a  foot  or  two  long,  and  an  enlarged  chamber  at 
the  inner  end,  which  the  chipmunk  hollowed  out  with  the 
labor  of  his  tiny  hands.  On  the  floor  of  the  chamber  is  a 
bed  of  dry  leaves ;  scattered  about  are  the  gnawed  remains 
of  a  few  nuts  and  acorns.  This  is  his  house,  or  one  of  his 
houses,  for  he  has  several.  At  the  foot  of  the  beech  tree 
is  another,  in  which  he  is  now  safely  lodged.  Its  front 
door  opens  between  two  great  roots  beside  a  little  tuft  of 
ferns,  and  beneath  an  arch  of  lichens.  But  these  artistic 
touches  nature  has  added  for  him,  and  if  we  could  unroof 
this  house  we  should  find  it  furnished  only,  as  the  other, 
with  a  simple  bed  of  dry  leaves. 

Down  my  woodland  path  these  autumn  days  beechnuts5 
are  dropping  with  their  burry  coats  split  in  four  gaping 
pieces,  and  the  rain  of  acorns  from  the  chestnutoak6  still 
falls,  and  the  chipmunks  are  living  sumptuously.  Par- 
tridge berries7  shine  with  waxy  redness  upon  their  turfy 
terrace  at  the  base  of  the  pine  trees ;  the  dark-blue  fruit 
of  Solomon's  seal8  hangs  in  a  graceful  curve  suspended 
under  the  overarching  stem ;  and  the  great  red  clusters  of 
spikenard  berries9  are  almost  black  with  ripeness.  Food 
is  abundant  and  easy  to  get  now  for  bird  and  beast  alike. 
On  dark  days  the  chipmunks  remain  much  indoors,  it  re- 
quires so  little  time  to  pick  up  enough  to  meet  their  needs. 
But  sunshiny  mornings  they  are  out  in  force,  and  it  is 


CHIPMUNKS.  17 

worth  any  one's  while  to  spend  an  hour  in  the  woods, 
studying  their  activities,  finding  out  the  place  they  occupy 
in  the  world.  To  see  their  constant  alertness,  the  winsome 
gracefulness  of  their  every  movement  and  posture,  the 
utility  of  their  color  and  instinctive  habits,  is  to  love  nature 
better  and  to  know  the  life  of  the  world  more  perfectly. 


HOUSES   THAT    GROW. 


I.   GALLS. 

TRANCE  little  dwellings  are  built 
on  the  twigs  and  on  the  leaves  of 
many  familiar  trees.  They  do  not 
look  like  houses ;  they  are  of  all 
conceivable  shapes ;  naturalists 
call  them  galls. 

Everybody  has  seen  "  oak  ap- 
ples," and  should  have  known  that 
these  are  the  homes  of  little  in- 
sects. 

Stranger  than  the  form  of  these 
houses  is  the  manner  in  which  they 
are  built.  Sometime,  when  the 
twig  is  young  and  rapidly  grow- 
ing, an  insect  slips  in  and  deposits 
an  egg  in  it.  Thus  the  site  is 
selected ;  after  that  the  house 
grows,  and  its  shape  and  size  and  style  and  finish  will  de- 
pend upon  the  plant  and  the  insect  concerned. 

When  the  egg  hatches,  a  pale  little  wormlike  larva  slips 
out  of  its  shell  and  begins  feeding.  The  plant  is  thus 
irritated,  and  produces,  in  response,  a  rapid  and  unusual 
growth  about  the  larva, —  builds  walls  around  it,  as  it  were, 

18 


HOUSES   THAT    GROW. 


and  shuts  it  in.  There  it  remains  until  grown  up,  sheltered 
and  protected,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  food  it 
likes  best.  If  hungry  it  need  but  nibble  a  bit  from  the 
inner  wall  of  its  house. 

There  is  a  pretty  little  trailing  plant,  common  on  wild 
blue-grass  sod  every  where,  called  cinquefoil^  Q\  five-finger. 
It  is  often  mistaken  for  wild  strawberry,  which  it  much 


FIG.  8.  — Cinquefoil  with  galls  at  the  nodes. 

resembles;  but  its  flowers  are  yellow,  and  its  fruit  is  a 
bunch  of  dry  little  seeds.  There  is  often  found  at  each 
joint  of  the  trailing  stems  a  berrylike  growth  which  might 
be  mistaken  for  its  fruit  (Fig.  8).  This  is  about  the  size 
and  shape  of  a  gooseberry,  but 
less  smooth,  and  often  with  a 
blush  of  red  color  on  one  side. 

This  is  a  gall;  and  from  this 
one  we  may  learn  something  of 
the  life  of  a  gallfly.  We  are  not 
likely  to  see  the  egg  placed  on 
the  young  stems  in  the  spring, 

nor  to  discover  the  gall  itself  until  it  has  grown  large 
enough  entirely  to  inclose  its  tenant.  But  in  early  sum- 
mer we  can  find,  if  we  look,  fuzzy  little  greenish  swellings 


FIG.  9.— The   cinquefoil  gall  and 
its  tenant. 


20 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


at  the  joints  of  some  of  the  trailing  stems.  Inside  one  of 
these  (Fig.  9),  if  we  cut  it  open,  we  find  a  little  white  hapless 
creature,  wrinkled,  wormlike,  without  head  or  feet.  This 
is  the  larva  that  hatched  from  the  egg.  A  helpless  thing 
it  is  when  its  house  is  broken  open.  It  is  fitted  for  doing 
but  one  thing, — that  the  only  thing  necessary, — feeding. 
It  eats  and  grows  all  the  summer  through ;  and  if  we  ex- 
amine one  in  June  and  another  in  August,  we  see  but  little 
difference,  except  in  size. 

The  gall  itself  grows  most  rapidly  in  early  summer; 
later  its  walls  get  hard  and  firm ;  and  in  autumn,  after  the 
plant  has  died,  it  is  of  a  somber  brown.  Thus  it  is  never 
very  conspicuous ;  but  it  is  easiest  to  find  in  early  winter  and 
in  spring,  when  the  leaves  have  fallen  and  when  the  swell- 
ings stand  out  rather  prominently  upon  the  dry  stems.  In 
early  winter,  if  a  gall  be  cut  open,  it  will 

be  found  that  the  larva 

has  suddenly  turned  into 

something  very  different. 

A  pupa  we  call  it   now 

(Fig.  10).      It  has  a  head 

with  large  eyes,  and  a  pair 
FIG.  10. -Pupa    of  long  ^elers,  or  anten- 

of    the    cinquefoil 
gallfly    (enlarged). 

front,  long  legs  folded  up 
against  the  body,  and  short  wings  laid  close  against  its 
sides.  But  it  is  now  more  inert  than  ever,  and  little  like 
the  active  fly  it  will  be  in  the  future. 

Eating  is  the  business  of  the  larvae ;  pupae  require  no 
food.  They  lie  as  if  dead  within  the  brown  walls.  But 
this  period  of  inactivity  is  making  over  the  fat  little  grub 
into  an  agile  creature  with  flashing  wings11  (Fig.  n). 


nee,  extending  down  its    FIG.  ii.-Anaduit  gaii- 

fly  (enlarged). 


HOUSES   THAT    GROW. 


21 


In  spring,  when  the  tender  leaves  of  the  new  growth  of 
cinquefoil  are  pushing  up  through  the  dead  stems  of  last 
year,  we  may  see  that  some  of  the  dead  galls  have  round 
holes  in  one  side.  If  now  we  cut  such  a  one  open,  we  find 
it  empty.  The  pupa  turned  into  an  active  gallfly  (Fig.  1 1), 
which  gnawed  the  hole,  crawled  out  of  it,  and  flew  away. 
We  may  never  see  the  adult  fly  in  the  field,  for  it  is  both 
agile  and  shy ;  but  we  can  easily  rear  it  at  home,  as  ex- 
plained farther  on. 

Most  galls  have  a  similar  history  ;  and  most  gall-inhab- 
iting insects  pass  through  these  same  stages  before  coming 
to  maturity. 

Some  gallflies  deposit  their  eggs  so  thickly  upon  the 
shoot  that  the  galls,  in  growing,  crowd  upon  one  another, 
or  even  grow  together,  forming  a  compound 
cluster.  Such  a  cluster  is  the  tufted  gall 12 
(Fig.  12),  which  grows  upon  wild  blackberry 
canes.  Around  the  edge  of  the  cluster  are 
to  be  seen  a  few  which  have  escaped  the 
crowd,  so  to  speak,  and  are  entirely  free  from 
their  fellows,  as  shown  in  the  figure.  A 
single  gall  is  shown  enlarged  in  Fig.  13. 

The  mossy  gall,13  so  common  in  the 
crotches  of  sweet-brier,  is  a  similar  cluster, 
but  more  closely  compacted  together.  In 
the  pithy  gall,14  which  appears  as  a  thick 
swelling  on  blackberry  canes,  but  contains 
numerous  tenants,  each  in  a  room  of  its  own, 
we  have  this  consolidation  carried  to  such  an  extreme  that 
the  boundaries  of  the  individual  galls  composing  it  have 
been  obscured. 

One  of  the  interesting  things  about  these  houses  is  their 


FIG.  12.  — The 
tufted  gall  of  the 
blackberry. 


22 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


FIG.  13. — A  single  gall  from  the  cluster 
shown  in  Fig.  12  (enlarged). 


wonderful  diversity.    They  differ  from  one  another  far  more 
widely  than  do  the  insects  which  make  them,  though  these 

insects  may  belong  to  sev- 
eral very  different  groups. 
They  differ  greatly  in  size, 
also.  The  initial  cut  of  this 
chapter  represents  a  leaf 
of  hackberry15  with  sev- 
eral kinds  of  galls  upon  it. 
Similar  ones  may  be  found 
on  the  leaves  of  linden16 
and  hickory.17 

In  early  autumn,  when 
the  cottonwood18  leaves, 
that,  swaying  on  their  pli- 
ant stems,  have  rustled  in 

all  the  summer  breezes,  making  that  soft  chattering  leaf 
music  so  familiar  and  so  grateful  to  country-bred   ears, 
come  tumbling  down  about  our  path  in  flakes  of  yellow 
and  green,  the  poorest 
of  them  are  worth  look- 
ing at, — shapes  so  odd, 
margins    so    curiously 
scalloped,      and      leaf 
stalks    so    slender  and 
flexible,  fashioned  as  if 
for  rocking  "  upon  the 
treetop."    It  is  easy  to 
find  among  the  fallen 
leaves,  at  the  junction 

of  the  stalk  with  the  blade,  real  little  cradles,  like  the  one 
shown  in  Fig.  14,  in  which  a  family  of  aphids19  has  been 


FIG.  14.  —  Aphid  gall  on  cottonwood-leaf  stalk; 
also  a  winged  aphid  (enlarged). 


HOUSES   THAT    GROW.  23 

rocked  all  the  summer  through.  The  cradles  are  galls,  of 
course.  Through  the  early  part  of  the  season  they  are 
closed,  and  the  little  family  is  securely  shut  in.  In  autumn 
they  crack  open,  and  their  tenants,  some  of  which,  like  the 
one  shown  enlarged  in  the  figure,  are  winged,  escape. 

2.     SOME     WILLOW     GALLS. 

One  need  not  look  farther  than  his  own  neighborhood 
to  find  many  kinds  of  galls  upon  willows  alone.  There  are 
willows  for  all  sorts  of  situations  except  the  driest,  and 
for  each  sort  of  willow  there  are  several  sorts  of  galls. 
And,  curiously  enough,  willow  galls  are  not  made  by  the 
true  gallflies 20  (which  have  four  wings,  with  few  veins,  and 
short  bodies),  but  by  the  gall  gnats21  (which  have  but  two 
wings),  or  by  sawflies  22  (which  have  four  veiny  wings  and 
long  bodies).  A  sawfly 23  makes  one 
of  the  prettiest,  the  apple  gall  of  our 
common  low-ground  willows.24  This 
is  a  leaf  gall,  and  must  be  looked  for 
in  summer  or  autumn,  before  the 
leaves  have  fallen.  It  is  about  the 
size  of  a  cherry  or  of  a  very  small 
crab  apple,  and  the  likeness  of  its 
skin  in  both  color  and  texture  to 
that  of  an  apple  doubtless  suggested 
its  name.  It  hangs  on  the  under 
side  of  a  leaf,  and  is  shown  in  Fig.  1 5  ,* 
as  it  appears  in  autumn. 

r^,       ,  ~  ,  .  FIG.  15.— The  apple  gall. 

1  he  lower  figure  shows  the  irreg- 
ular cavity  in  one  cut  open,  and  the  larva,  which  is  far  from 
filling  it.     This  insect  differs  from  the  others  mentioned 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


in  this  chapter,  in  that  the  larva  leaves  the  gall  and  be- 
comes a  pupa  in  another  place,  —  a  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind 
in  any  attempt  to  rear  the  insect.  When  the 
leaves  fall  in  autumn,  it  tunnels  out  and  crawls 
away  to  find  a  place  (preferably)  in  some  pithy 
substance  in  which  to  complete  its  life  history. 
In  spring,  when  the  willow  shoots  are  tender, 
the  adult  sawfly  23  appears  (Fig.  16). 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  galls,  espe- 
FIG.  16.— The  cially  in  winter,  is  the  cone  gall 25  of  pussy  wil- 

sawfly  that   de-  J  J 

veiops    in   the  lows  26  (Fig.  I  ?).  We  often  see  the  smaller  trees 

apple  gall. 

overhanging  brooks  fairly  covered  with  it. 
Beautifully  cone-shaped,  and  composed  of  closely  overlap- 
ping scales,  it  is  a  curious  and  interesting  development. 
Eachgall  represents  what 
mighthavebeen  abranch. 
But  when  the  larva  began 
feeding  in  the  terminal 
bud,  growth  in  length 
ceased,  and  the  leaves, 
which  would  have  been 
arranged  at  intervals 
along  the  branch,  have 
come  to  be  crowded 
closely  together. 

Several  of  the  inner- 
most and  smallest  are 
closely  united  around  a 
central  chamber,  which  FIG.  17. -The  cone  gaii. 

contains    the    proprietor 

(Fig.  1 8,  A).     He  is  a  little  fellow  with  a  very  big  house, 
having  many  spare   rooms  under  the  outer  scales,  each 


HOUSES   THAT   GROW. 


with  an  outside  entrance.  And  these  outer  apartments 
(Fig.  1 8,  B)  are  often  found  occupied  by  smaller  gall  gnats, 
which,  because  they  lodge  in  the  house  of 
another,  are  called  "  guest  "  gall  gnats.27 
Oddly  enough,  the  larva  of  thesawfly,23 
which  gets  its  growth  in  the  apple  gall, 
sometimes  crawls  into  the  pine-cone  gall 
to  undergo  its  transformation. 

The  proprietor  of  the  cone  gall  is  a 
little  fat  lump  with 
a  flat  cleft  piece, 
called  the  "  breast- 
bone,"   projecting 


FIG.  18.  — The  cone 
gall  cut  open.  A,  its 
proprietor;  B  three 
guests. 


FIG.  19. — The  anterior  end 
forward  toward  itS    of  the  gall  gnat  larva,  enlarged 
to  show  the     breastbone. 


mouth  (Fig.    19).* 
It  fashions  a  delicate  arched  ceiling  across  its  own  central 

apartment,  and  remains  in- 
side in  closest  retirement, 
leaving  the  guests  in  the 
outer  chambers  to  their  own 
devices.  In  spring  it  under- 

goes  its  transformation> and 

comes  forth  a  delicate  two- 
winged  gnat,  similar  in  ap- 
pearance to  the  one  shown  in 

Fig-  43- 

Another  gall 28  of  very  dif- 
ferent  appearance,  which  is 
FIG.  20.— The  pineapple  gaii.  found  on  the  narrow-leaved 

*  The  presence  of  this  peculiar  structure  is  sufficient  for  the  recognition  of 
gall-gnat  larvae  {Cecidomyiidce}  in  general.  It  is  small,  and  on  the  smaller 
species  can  hardly  be  seen  without  a  lens. 


26 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


willows 29  bordering  larger  streams,  is  really  very  similar 
(Fig.  20).  It  represents  a  shortened  branch,  and  if  its 
leaves  were  closely  appressed  it  would  be  somewhat  cone- 
shaped.  It  represents  in  an  interesting  manner  a  halfway 
stage  in  the  reduction  of  leaves  to  the  form  of  broad  scales. 

There  is  another 
large  gall  (not  to 
mention  several 

smaller  ones)  com- 
mon on  pussy  will- 
ows (Fig.  21).  We 
will  call  it  the  woody 
.gall,30  on  account  of 
the  large  amount  of 

Fig.  21.— The  woody  gall  of  the  pussywillow.          hard       WOOdy       tissue 

composing  its   walls. 

It  is  nearly  round,  downy,  and  crowned  with  a  beak  which 
represents  the  scales  at  the  apex  of  the  shoot.  Inside 
this  beak  is  the  chamber  of  the  larva  to  whose  presence  is 
due  this  remarkable  growth.  The  adult  gnat  emerges  from 
this  gall  also  in  the  spring. 


3.  HOW  TO  REAR  THE  GALL  MAKERS. 

It  is  delightful  recreation  to  find  these  curious  houses, 
and  a  very  easy  matter  to  obtain  their  pretty  little  tenants. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  watch  the  development  of  the 
insect  (by  cutting  open  a  gall,  from  time  to  time,  to  see 
what  stage  it  is  in),  to  collect  the  galls  when  the  insect  is 
found  in  the  pupal  stage,  and  to  place  them  at  once  in  a 
bottle,  stopping  its  mouth  with  a  piece  of  cotton.  Without 
any  further  attention,  the  insects  will  emerge  in  due  time. 


HOUSES   THAT   GROW. 


Suppose,  for  illustration,  we  follow  the  history  of  the  spiny 
rose  gall  31  (shown  in  Fig.  22  as  it  appears  in  late  winter).  It 
occurs  on  one  or  more  of  the  dwarf  species  of  wild  rose 
common  on  dry  uplands,  by  road- 
sides, and  elsewhere.  In  summer 
we  may  find  scattered  along  the 
short  lateral  branches  little  fuzzy 
greenish  swellings.  A  little  later 
these  will  be  rather  conspicuous, 
of  larger  size,  of  red  or  yellowish 
color,  with  long,  soft  spines.  If 
now  we  cut  one  open,  we  find  in  a 
hollow  cavity  in  the  middle  a  little 
white  larva  (a).  In  autumn  the 
galls  have  turned  brown,  and  their 
walls  are  solid.  They  are  as  large 
as  gooseberries,  and  have  a  defen- 
sive armor  of  slender,  straight,  and 
very  rigid  spines.  A  larger  cavity 
in  the  interior  is  occupied,  but  not 
filled,  by  a  full-grown  larva,  per- 
haps one  sixth  of  an  inch  long. 

The  gall  is  now  dead,  but  within  it  are  yet  to  take  place 
the  transformations  of  the  insect.  Sometime  during  autumn 
or  early  winter — for  the  time  varies  greatly — the  little 
footless,  wormlike  larva  in  the  gall  becomes  a  pupa  of  the 
form  shown  enlarged  at  b,  in  the  figure,  with  evident  head 
and  wings  and  legs. 

Now,  if  we  want  to  get  the  adult  gallflies,  we  collect  some 
of  the  galls  when  we  find  they  have  pupae  in  them.  We 
select  a  wide-mouthed  bottle  and  put  them  in  it,  stopping 
its  mouth  with  cotton  (Fig.  23).  This  confines  the  winged 


FIG.  22.— The  spiny  rose  gall. 


28 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


flies,  allows  circulation  of  air,  and  prevents  the  ruinous 
growth  of  molds  which  might  take  place  if  we  used  a  cork. 
We  place  the  bottle  on  our  table  and  let 
it  alone.  In  due  time  the  pupae  become 
flies  (Fig.  24),  and  step  out  into  a  new 
life  of  activity.  Then,  if  we  wish  to  pre- 
serve them  for  specimens,  we  can  kill 
thembypouringa  little 
gasoline  or  chloroform 
upon  the  cotton,  push- 
ing it  down  inside,  and 
corking  the  bottle. 

When  several  differ- 
ent species  of  insects 
emerge  from  one  spe- 
cies   Of    galls,   SOme    Of   FlG-  2,4-  —  Anadult  gall- 
fly (enlarged). 

them      are      parasites 
which  have  lived  at  the  expense  of  the  gall  makers.     The 
rightful   tenants   are   usually  recognizable   by  characters 
already  given  (p.  23). 

In  winter,  when  the  leaves  have  fallen,  stem  galls  become 
conspicuous ;  and,  since  many  of  them  will  then  be  found 
to  contain  pupae,  early  and  late  winter  are  the  best  times 
to  get  mature  galls  for  rearing  their  occupants. 


FIG.  23.— A  bottle  fixed 
for  rearing  gallflies. 


GOLDENROD:    ITS   VISITORS   AND    ITS 
TENANTS. 


I.    GOLDENRODS. 

fr 

a  furlong 

of  country  road- 
side or  neglected 

fence  row  but  has  its  clump  of  golden- 
rod.  Not  a  few  who  admire  it  in  au- 
tumn do  not  know  it  in  summer  before 
its  flowers  appear.  It  is  then  only  a  weed,  and 
as  a  weed  many  a  tidy  farmer  cuts  it  down. 
But  when  summer  is  over  its  green  changes  to  gold. 
Its  weedy  coarseness  is  crowned  with  ample  clusters  at 
once  showy  and  delicate,  and  so  exquisitely  graceful  that 
from  one  end  of  our  continent  to  the  other  it  is  sought 
for  diligently.  It  decks  the  altar  in  many  a  church;  it 
brightens  many  a  schoolroom ;  it  adorns  many  a  private 
table.  It  is  beautiful  enough  for  the  rich  to  desire  it;  it 
is  common  enough  for  the  poor  to  have  it;  and,  best  of 
all,  it  grows  and  blooms  so  near  at  hand  that  we  all  can 
find  it,  enjoy  its  beauty,  and  inform  our  minds  with  the 
lessons  of  its  interesting  life. 

In  spring  it  spreads  its  clustered  deep  green  leaves  out 
over  the  sod ;  then  it  takes  life  very  moderately,  spending 
the  whole  summer  drinking  in  the  rain  and 

29 


30  OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 

getting  its  growth.  The  straight  stem  crowded  with  rough 
green  leaves  is  not  all  it  has  to  show  for  its  time.  Down 
underground  it  has  been  extending  its  roots  and  getting 
a  firmer  hold  upon  the  soil.  Fires  may  sweep  over  it,  and 
scythes  may  cut  it  down;  but  so  long  as  the  sod  to  which 
it  clings  remains  unturned  it  will  spring  up  again.  Just 
beneath  the  surface  it  has  produced  several  horizontal, 
scaly  branches,  from  the  tips  of  which  new  stems  will 

arise  when  spring  comes 
again.  While  other  plants 
all  the  season  through  have 
been  producing  flowers  and 
seeds,  this  one  has  been  get- 
ting ready  to  do  the  same 
thing,  but  has  also  found  a 

FIG     25.  — Underground    stems    and  r  ,. 

roots  of  the  Canada  goldenrod.  st,  the  Surer  Way  of  Starting  new 
base  of  a  flowering  stem;  o,  the  under-  . 

ground  scaly  branch  from  which  it  plants  than  DV  Seeds  (riff. 
sprang;  n,  new  branches  from  whose 

roots68  wil1  adse   °ther  stems;  r%  r'     2S)-     These  scaly  branches 

will  be  all  ready  to  put  forth 

a  vigorous  growth  in  the  spring,  being  fed  by  paternal 
roots  while  developing  roots  of  their  own. 

When,  in  autumn,  the  flower  clusters  stretch  up  into 
view,  they  are  greenish  in  color  and  appear  like  clustered 
buds.  Each  bud  soon  opens  and  shows  itself  a  head  of 
yellow  flowers.  Here  in  Fig.  26,  at  A,  is  a  head  of 
flowers  crowded  together  and  closely  surrounded  by  a 
number  of  greenish  scales.  At  B  is  a  single  flower  taken 
out  from  the  cluster.  The  lowermost  part  of  it  becomes 
the  seed.  At  the  top  of  this  part  arise  a  circle  of  bristles 
and  the  yellow  tubular  corolla.  From  out  the  tube  of  the 
corolla  stamens  and  pistil  project  together.  At  C  is  an- 
other flower,  with  its  corolla  torn  apart  to  show  the  pistil 


GOLDENROD:    ITS    VISITORS    AND    ITS   TENANTS.      3! 


running  up  through  the  middle,  and  the  five  slender 
separated  stalks  of  the  stamens.  The  anthers  are  united 
together  in  a  tube  surrounding  the  pistil,  which  is  pushing 
up  through  the  tube.  One  flower  in  the  head  at  A  shows 
the  forked  summit  of  the  pistil  not  quite  fully  extended. 
The  anthers  open  internally,  and  the  pistil,  crowding 
through,  acts  like  a  ramrod,  pushing  the  pollen  out  at  the 
upper  end  of  the  tube.  The  top  of  the  pistil  then  opens, 


FIG.  26.— A,  a  head  of  goldenrod  flowers;  B,  a  single  flower;  C,  a  flower  torn  apart 
to  show  the  droplets  of  nectar  at  w,  «. 


exposing  in  the  fork  the  surface  (stigma)  upon  which  pollen 
must  fall  in  order  to  produce  seed,  and  to  which  the  pollen 
must  now  be  brought  from  another  flower.  We  have 
already  been  told  that  it  is  better  for  any  plant  if  the  pol- 
len which  falls  upon  the  stigma  of  one  flower  come  from 
the  stamens  of  another.  We  now  see  how  each  of  these 
flowers,  by  shedding  all  its  pollen  before  exposing  its 
stigma,  insures  that  desirable  end. 

In  the  season  of  early  frosts  the  seeds  mature  rapidly, 
and  the  great  clusters  of  yellow  are  speedily  changed  to 
clusters  of  white.  The  yellow  corollas  have  withered  and 
fallen,  pistil  and  stamens  with  them.  The  scales  that  en- 
circled the  head  have  separated  widely,  exposing  the  seeds, 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


FIG.  27.  — The  scattering  seeds. 


each  with  its  crown  of  bristles,  now  hoary  white  with  age 
(Fig.  27).     And  the   wintry  winds,  catching  this  crown, 

will  wrench  them  from 
their  seat  and  hurl  them 
headlong,  one  by  one, 
until  ere  the  winter  is 
gone  the  whiteness  too 
will  have  disappeared. 

But  the  goldenrod  of 
which  we  have  been 
speaking  is  the  common  Canada  goldenrod,32  or  some  very 
similar  species,  with  its  upturned  heads  of  flowers  densely 
clusteredalonggracefully 
recurved  branches.  We 
have  other  goldenrods,  of 
very  different  appear- 
ance. Flower  and  fruit 
are  very  much  alike  in 
all,  but  flower  clusters 
and  leaves  vary  greatly. 
At  the  foot  of  rocky- 
shaded  slopes  grow  the 
scattered,  zigzag  stems  of 
the  broad-leaved  golden- 
rod33  shown  in  Fig.  28. 
Overhanging  the  border 
of  woodland  paths  we  find 
the  slender  blue-stem 
goldenrod 55  (shown  in  the 

FIG.  28-  —Broad-leaved  goldenrod. 

initial  cut  of  this  chapter). 

These  and  a  few  kindred  species  have  the  flowers  in  little 

clusters  arranged  alongside  of  the  main  stem. 


GOLDENROD:  ITS  VISITORS  AND  ITS  TENANTS.    33 

Out  on  the*  dry  prairies  grows  the  rigid  goldenrod,34  with 
its  broad,  rough  leaves  (see  Fig.  39)  and  its  flat-topped 
clusters  of  large  and  very  showy  flowers.  By  marshy 
brooksides  and  in  wet  waste  meadows  grow  the  narrow- 
leaved  goldenrods,35  with  their  small  flowers  well-nigh  lost 
in  a  multitude  of  branches  and  slender  leaves.  And  there 
are  many  others, —  for  wet  places  and  for  dry,  for  shade 
and  for  sun,  for  mountain  and  for  plain.  While  each  is 
interesting  in  its  own  way,  we  are  likely  to  know  best  the 
hardy,  turf-loving  species  which  grow  beside  our  path. 

2.    GOLDENROD    VISITORS. 

A  large  clump  of  goldenrod  is  a  miniature  forest.  It 
has  a  population  of  its  own.  The  young  naturalist  stoop- 
ing to  peer  in  among  the  stems,  straight  as  pines,  sees 
flitting  about  many  little  insects  for  which  he  has  no  names. 
Among  these  cool  shadows  and  sheltered  retreats  some  of 
them  dwell ;  others  come  and  go.  Crickets  wander  about 
below,  and  grasshoppers  alight  upon  the  leaves  and  eat 
parts  of  them  when  choicer  food  is  scarce.  A  pretty 
yellow  warbler36  may  often  be  seen  balancing  itself  grace- 
fully upon  the  swaying  summit  of  the  tallest 
stem.  A  big  leopard  frog37  will  be  found 
sometimes  in  the  midst  of  a  clump  near  the 
brook,  filling  his  maw  with  the  unwary  little 
insects  which  come  within  reach  of  his  treach- 
erous sticky  tongue. 

An    exposed    stem    will    sometimes    be     FIG.  29.— Tree- 
cricket  eggs. 

marked  with  a  row  of  minute  holes  like  that 

shown  in  Fig.  29.      Here  is  a  nest  of  eggs.      If  we  split 

open  the  stem  we  shall  find  that  a  long  yellow-capped  egg 


34 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


has  been  pushed  down  into  each  hole  and  left  there  to 
hatch.  These  are  the  eggs  of  the  snowy  tree  cricket.38 
They  are  more  commonly  found  in  blackberry  canes. 

The  stream  of  insect  visitors  sets  in  strongly  when  the 
golden  blossoms  appear.     Though  singly  the  flowers  are 
small,  they  are  so  bunched  together  that  when  they  open 
the  whole  clump  appears  to  burst 
into  a  yellow  glow,  and,  exhaling  a 
delicate  fragrance,  proclaims  abroad 
to  distant  roving  insects  :  "  Come, 
all  ye  that  love  toothsome  pollen 
or  sweet  nectar ;  come,  for  the  feast 
is  spread."     And  they  come. 

Among  those  that  come  earliest 
and  stay  latest  are  the  black  blister 
beetles39  (Fig.  30).  While  young 
these  beetles  lived  in  the  ground 
and  ate  grasshopper  eggs;  but, 
having  grown  up  and  gotten  wings, 
they  have  taken  to  the  air  and  to 
eating  pollen.  Over  the  tops  of  the 
yellow  flowers  they  clamber,  greedy 
as  pigs  in  a  trough,  their  black  faces 
smeared  with  the  yellow  stuff. 
Locust  borers40  of  banded  black 

and  yellow  also  revel  in  pollen.  These  beetles,  when  larvae, 
spend  their  days  boring  holes  in  the  solid  trunks  of  locust 
trees;  but,  attaining  maturity,  wings,  and  a  beautifully 
ornamented  coat  of  mail,  they  no  longer  seek  seclusion. 
Soldier  beetles  41  are  here,  too, — plain  brown  fellows  with  a 
long  black  blotch  above  either  wing.  All  these  may  often 
be  found  on  a  single  flower  cluster.  They  lose  no  time 


FIG.  30.  —  Beetles  on  golden- 
rod  flowers.  A  locust  borer 
(center),  two  soldier  beetles 
(to  right),  and  three  black  blis- 
ter beetles. 


GOLDENROD  I    ITS   VISITORS    AND    ITS   TENANTS.     35 


going  and  coming  for  meals,  but  lodge  overnight  among 

the  inner  branches  of  the  cluster.     Thus  they  spend  their 

days  "  in  the  golden  lap  of  luxury  "  till  early  frosts  nip 

beetles  and  flowers  together. 

Then  there  are  gorgeous  lit- 
tle flies  of  rainbow  tints,  and 

other  larger  ones  of  black  and 

yellow,  which  sit  alertly  atop 

of  the  blossom,  sipping  the 

nectar     from      its     shallow 

depths  (Fig.  31).    And  bees, 

—  clumsy    big    bumblebees 

and  honeybees,  and  nimble 

little  bees,  more  shy  and  also 

more  beautiful.    And  wasps, 

too,  of  banded  black  and  yel- 
low, always  in  a  hurry,  and 

doing  more  prancing  about 

than  anything  else. 

At  night,  when  these  visitors  are  all  asleep,  others  are 

coming  and  busily  partaking  of  the  feast  of  sweets.  Of 
these  nocturnal  visitors,  moths  are  per- 
haps most  abundant. 

In  such  a  throng  of  feasting  insects  it 
would  be  strange  if  there  were  not  some 
disturbers  of  the  peace  of  society.  Such 
are  the  crab  spiders  and  ambush  bugs, 
which  hide  among-  the  flowers  and  lie  in 

FIG.    32.  — A    goldenrod 

tragedy:  ambush  bug  de-  wait  for  prey.     Crab  spiders42  are  gaily 

vouringafly.  *  &       J 

colored,  have  four  long  legs  and  four 
short  ones,  and  run  sidewise.  We  seldom  pick  a  bouquet 
in  which  there  is  not  one  hiding  somewhere  among  the 


FIG.  31.  —  Fly,  wasp,  and  beetle  on 
goldenrod  flowers. 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


flowers.  Ambush  bugs43  are  common  enough,  too;  they 
are  marked  with  yellow  and  brown,  and  have  stout,  grasp- 
ing fore  legs.  They  lie  hidden  in  the  ambush  of  their 
color,  which  matches  that  of  their  surroundings,  until  an 
unsuspecting  fly  or  moth  comes  within  their  reach.  At 
the  goldenrod  feasting,  tragedies  such  as  the  one  shown 
in  Fig.  32  often  occur. 

One  might  wonder  why  such  nectar-loving  insects  as 
butterflies  are  so  seldom  seen  on  goldenrod  flowers.  The 
smaller  Blues44  and  Coppers45  and  a  few  others  visit  them 

sometimes,  but  they  find 
the  nectar  less  conven- 
iently situated  for  them- 
selves than  for  insects  with 
shorter  "  tongues."  It  is 
too  near  the  top.  (See 
Fig.  26,  C.)  If  it  were  in 
the  bottom  of  the  corolla 
tube  they  could  get  it  bet- 
ter. Here  is  a  figure  of 
the  little  bronze  copper46 
feeding  (Fig.  33).  See  the 
length  of  its  sucking  pro- 
boscis ;  five  sixths  of  it  is 
not  needed,  and  the  tip  of 

it  is  so  remote  it  has  some  difficulty  finding  the  five  little 
drops  of  nectar  of  each  corolla,  even  when  they  have  not- 
been  eaten  by  some  other  insect.  That  proboscis  is  adapted 
to  feeding  from  flowers  like  those  of  clover  and  phlox. 
It  is  as  much  out  of  place  here  as  would  be  a  very  long 
pole  for  fishing  in  a  little  brook. 


FIG.  33. — A  "  long-tongued  "  insect  feed- 
Specialization 


GOLDENROD:  ITS  VISITORS  AND  ITS  TENANTS.    37 


3.    TENANTS    THAT    LIVE    IN    THE    PLANT. 

In  the  midst  of  a  clump  of  the  Canada  goldenrod  we 
often  find  a  stem  with  its  top  brown  and  withered  and 
bent  downward  as  shown  in  Fig.  34.  We  suspect  a 
tenant  causes  this,  and  that  he  lives  inside  the  stem,  and 
we  look  beside  it  for  the  chips  he  lets  fall.  They  look  like 
siftings  of  white  meal,  especially  where  they  fall  upon 
spiders'  webs,  as  usually  happens.  Then  we  seize  the 
brown  top,  and  it  breaks  off,  expos- 
ing a  large  hole  running  down  the 
stem  where  there  should  be  solid 
white  pith.  The  tenant 47  is  a  carpen- 
ter, who  has.  been  chiseling  out  this 
cavity  as  a  place  for  himself  to  live 
in.  He  has  a  queer  habit :  he  begins 
at  the  top,  bores  a  hole  into  the  pith, 
and  cuts  his  way  downward.  He 
bites  loose  the  pith,  bit  by  bit,  car- 
ries it  up  to  the  hole,  and  pushes  it 
out.  This  is  the  story  of  the  siftings. 
When  he  reaches  a  depth  of  a  few 
inches,  so  that  he  is  wasting  labor  by 
climbing  so  far  to  throw  out  his  chips, 

he  bores  another  hole  to  the  outside  and  has  a  new  door. 
Then  out  of  the  old  door  he  makes  a  window  by  spread- 
ing over  it  a  transparent  film  which  admits  some  light,  but 
keeps  out  intruders.  Thus  he  descends  to  the  root,  mak- 
ing the  cavity  larger  as  he  increases  in  size.  He  makes  a 
door  first  to  one  quarter,  then  to  another,  and  converts 
each  one  into  a  window  when  it  no  longer  is  needed  open. 


FIG.  34.— The  work  of  a 
stem-borer. 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


A  curious  house  he  has  when  he  gets  to  the  bottom !  It 
is  a  tall  tower,  with  a  door  below,  and  windows  all  the  way 
up,  whose  stairway  is  a  narrow  tube.  But  he  climbs  or 
descends  this  stairway  with  surprising  swiftness.  If  we  try 
to  find  him  by  splitting  it  open,  he  slips  along  faster  than 
we  can  open  the  stern  till  he  comes  to  the  end  of  his  house. 

Several  other  ten- 
ants of  the  stem  live 
in  galls.  Of  these 
the  one  perhaps  best 
known  is  the  round 
gall48  shown  in  Fig. 
35,  A  At  B  is  shown 
a  gall  cut  in  two,  the 
larva  which  is  its  ten- 
ant occupying  the 
small  central 'cham- 
ber. At  C  is  shown 
the  pupa  case  (mag- 
nified) which  one  finds 
in  the  gall  in  win- 

.  A  f    n   ;c 

W««        "l  **   IS 

^    ^^    fly 

emerges  in  spring.  This  gall  grows  high  up  on  the  stem, 
and  even  when  the  leaves  are  on  is  readily  seen.  In  winter 
the  spherical  swellings  on  the  bare  stems  are  very  con- 
spicuous. 

The  elliptical  gall46  is  often  found  on  neighboring 
stems.  It  is  longer,  entirely  hollow  within,  and  usually 
grows  at  a  lower  level.  A  moth  is  the  tenant  of  this  gall. 
If  cut  open  in  midsummer,  a  larva  will  be  found  within. 
There  is  then  no  opening  to  the  outside.  But  the  pupa 


FIG.  35.  —The  round  gall  of  goldenrod  stems;  the 
same  cut  open  showing  its  tenant,  and  (at  the  left, 
enlarged)  the  pupa  case  and  the  adult  fly. 


GOLDENROD:    ITS    VISITORS    AND    ITS   TENANTS.     39 


will  be  inactive,  and  the  adult  moth  will  have  no  jaws  capa- 
ble of  gnawing  a  way  out ;  so  it  devolves  upon  the  larva 
to  make  the  hole,  else  in  later  life  it  would  be  a  helpless 
prisoner.  This  is  almost  the  last  act  of  its  larval  life,  and 
it  is  performed  with  great  skill.  The  larva  bores  a  hole 
obliquely  upward  to  the  exterior,  widens  it  a  little  at  the 
outer  end,  and  fashions  a  cork-shaped  plug  (Fig.  36, /)  to 
fit  into  it.  This  cannot  be  pushed  in  by  an  intruder,  but 
when  the  moth  is  ready  to  go  abroad  it  pushes  out  easily. 
So  we  can  tell  by  looking  at  the  outside  of  one  of  these 
galls  in  early  autumn  what  to  expect  to  find  within.  If 
no  hole  has  been  made  to  the  sur- 
face a  larva  is  inside.  If  a  hole  has 
been  made,  and  is 
stopped  with  a  plug 
(as  at  /  in  the  figure), 
a  pupa  is  within.  If 
the  hole  is  empty  the 
moth  has  emerged,  and 
we  should  find  inside 
only  the  empty  pupa 
skin. 

The  moth49  is  about 
three  fourths  of  an  inch  long,  of  dark  mottled  grayish 
brown,  with  very  narrow  wings  held  closely  against  its 
body  and  oddly  upcurved  behind.  It  can  be  easily  ob- 
tained by  putting  the  plugged  gall  in  a  big  vial,  stopping 
the  mouth  with  cotton,  and  leaving  it  a  week  or  two  until 
the  moth  emerges. 

There  is  another  stem  gall,  very  common,  and  often  found 
associated  with  the  two  foregoing.  It  is  the  scarred  gall50 
(Fig.  37).  It  is  less  conspicuous  than  the  other  two,  being 


FIG.  36.— The  elliptical  gall. 
At  the  right  it  is  shown  cut 
open,  disclosing  a  pupa.  Atp 
is  the  cork-shaped  plug  made 
by  the  larva.  The  arrow  indi- 
cates the  path  of  the  emerging 
moth. 


FIG.  37.  — The 
scarred  gall  of 
goldenrod  stems. 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


less  swollen.  It  is  marked  with  scarred  brownish  furrows 
on  the  outside.  Its  cavity  is  large,  and  extends  a  little 
way  both  above  and  below  the  gall  into  the  pith  of  the 

stem.      Another   moth    is   the 
tenant  of  this  gall. 


FIG.  38.  — A  leaf  roll. 


FIG.  39.  — Bunch  galls  at  the  base  of  the 
flower  cluster. 


Sometimes  we  find  stems  topped  out  oddly  with  compact 
bunches  of  leaves,  fastened  together  with  threads  of  silk, 
or  formed  into  more  or  less  perfect  leaf  rolls.  Fig.  38 

represents  a  very  perfect  leaf 
roll  terminating  a  stem  of  the 
rigid  goldenrod.34  Such  rolls 
are  made  by  the  larvae  of  sev- 
eral different  moths.  The  larva 
hatches  from  an  egg  laid  in  the 
bud,  and  fastens  the  unex- 
panded  leaves  together  with  its 
silken  threads,  and  lives  within 
the  roll.  The  lowermost  of  the  entangled  leaves  are  soon 
full  grown,  and  draw  the  still  lengthening  apex  of  the  stem 


FIG.  40. — The  downy  flower  gall : 
at  A  natural  size  ;  at  a,  a  single  gall 
with  its  twin  brother,  a  head  of  flow- 
ers ;  at  b  a  gall  cut  open,  disclosing 
a  pupa. 


GOLDENROD:  ITS  VISITORS  AND  ITS  TENANTS.    41 


FIG.  41.— The  beaked 
flower  gall. 


over  on  one  side.  Sometimes  the  stem  pushes  its  way  out  at 
the  side  of  the  roll  and  rears  its  flower  cluster  above  ;  some- 
times, as  in  the  figure,  the  growth  of  the  plant  is  arrested. 
At  the  summit  of  the  goldenrod  stems  are  also  galls  akin 
to  those  already  described  from  willows,  and,  like  them,  ten- 
anted by  gall  gnats.  The  galls  51  shown 
in  the  figure  occur  bunched  very  closely 
together  at  the  base  of  the  flower  clus- 
ter. Their  tenants  move  out  in  August, 
and  usually  leave  their  empty  pupa  skins 
sticking  out  at  the  front  door. 

Two  little  galls  are  sometimes  very  abundant  in  the  flower 
cluster.  These  are  the  downy  galls 52  and  the  beaked  galls 53 
(shown  in  Figs.  39  and  40).  The  former  is  conical  and  is  cov- 
ered with  minute  hairs,  and  the  opening  in  its  blunt  apex  is 
stopped  with  stiff  hairs  directed  outward.  The  latter  is  glob- 
ular and  smooth, 
with  a  beaklike 
point  at  its  sum- 
mit (Fig.  41),  and 
is  opened  by  a 
hole  cut  in  its  side. 
Both  are  made  by 
little  gall  gnats, 
which  emerge 
about  the  first 
of  September. 

A  gall  that  is  made  upon  two  leaves  at  once,  binding 
them  together,  is  shown  in  Fig.  42.  It  appears  as  a  single 
roundish  swelling,  a  little  more  prominent  on  the  upper 
side.  When  cut  open,  as  at  A  in  the  figure,  the  leaves 
are  seen  to  be  completely  grown  together.  Doubtless  this 


FIG.  42. —  A  gall  uniting  two  leaves. 


42  OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 

is  begun  when  the  leaves  are  closely  pressed  together  in 
the  bud. 

This  is  one  of  the  earlier  galls,  the  adult  emerging  in 
June,  leaving  its  empty  pupa  skin  sticking  in  the  hole  (as 
in  the  figure)  through  which  it  escaped.  Fig.  43  shows 
the  adult  gall  gnat54  as  seen  through  a  lens. 

Here  is  a  leaf  of  blue-stem  goldenrod55 
with  galls  of  two  sorts  upon  it  (Fig.  44). 


FIG.  43.—  The  gall 
hat  develop 
all    shown 


gnat  that  develops  in 
the  gall  shown  in 
Fig.  42.  FIG.  44.  — Minute  leaf  galls  and  a  leaf  mine. 


Both  are  minute  ;  the  larger  appears  as  a  black  blotch  in  the 
midst  of  the  leaf,  the  smaller  as  a  black  dot  with  a  yellow 
circle  around  it.  When  the  occupants  have  emerged  there 
is  to  be  found  a  little  hole  above  or  below.  When  they 
are  still  in  the  galls  they  may  be  found  by  carefully  lifting 
the  thin  covering  of  their  shelter  on  the  point  of  a  needle. 
That  long,  crooked  trail  across  the  leaf  is  not  a  gall.  It 
is  a  white  line  marking  the  course  of  a  little  larva  that  is 
tunneling  through  the  tissues  of  the  leaf.  See  how  it  has 
widened  as  the  larva  has  grown.  At  its  end  the  larva  will 
excavate  a  place  in  which  to  become  a  pupa,  and  later 
there  will  escape  from  it  a  minute  moth  with  narrow  wings 
bearing  a  wide  fringe  of  hairs.  We  shall  find,  if  we  look, 
that  there  are  many  common  plants  whose  leaves  are 
marked  with  these  curiously  shaped  mines. 

"There's  never  a  leaf  nor  a  blade  too  mean 
To  be  some  tiny  creature's  palace." 


GOLDENROD  :    ITS   VISITORS   AND    ITS   TENANTS.     43 


4.    TENANTS    THAT    LIVE    ON    THE    PLANT. 

There  are  inhabitants  of  the  upper  branches  which  only 
the  sharpest  eyes  will  discover.  These  are  stick  caterpillars,56 
so  called  because  of  their  close  resemblance  to  twigs,  —  a 
weakling  race  preyed  upon  by  a  host  of  enemies,  whose 
only  escape  lies  in  being  inconspicuous.  How  wonderful 
are  the  ways  in  which  concealment  is  effected  will  only  be 
appreciated  by  one  who  has  seen  them.  Here 
(in  Fig.  45)  is  a  stick  caterpillar  found  among 
the  flowering  branches  of  the  Canada  golden- 
rod.  It  feeds  at  night,  when  most  of  its  ene- 
mies are  asleep,  and  through  the  day  remains 
stiff  and  motionless  as  a  stick.  The  colors  of 
a  twig  are  in  its  coat,  and  even  the  knots  are 
imitated  by  tubercles  upon  its  body.  By  and 
by,  when  done  feeding,  it  will  travel  down  the 
stem  (with  that  peculiar  looping  gait  which  has 
caused  the  stick  caterpillars  also  to  be  known 
as  measuring  worms),  it  will  enter  the  earth, 
and  become  a  pupa.  It  is  the  larva  of  a  small 
moth. 

Another  curious  larva,57  smaller  and  brown 
in  color,  found  among  the  eroldenrod  flowers.  FIG.  45.— A  stick 

caterpillar. 

has  a  double  row  of  spines  down  its  back.    It 
feeds  upon  the  bases  of  the  flowers ;  but  instead  of  throw- 
ing away  the  tops,  it  fastens  them  with  a  thread  of  silk  to 
the  spines,  and,  thus  covered,  none  but  the  sharpest  eyes 
would  see  anything  but  a  tuft  of  disarranged  flowers. 

Black  ants  are  often  seen  running  up  the  stem  and  over 
the  leaves  of  goldenrod,  and  it  will  repay  one  well  to  look 


44 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


carefully  to  see  what  these  shrewd  fellows  are  doing.  Not 
uncommonly  they  will  be  seen  attending  a  little  herd  of 
honey  bugs,58  which  are  feeding  quietly,  like  a  grazing  flock, 
upon  the  leaves  or  stem  of  the  plant  (Fig.  46).  Queer 
little  fellows  these  honey  bugs  are,  with  their  broad,  blunt 
heads  held  down  in  bovine  posture,  high  keels  behind  them, 
and  a  double  row  of  branching  spines  down  their  backs. 
Odd  behavior  it  seems  to  see  an  ant  walking  about  among 
them,  stroking  and  patting  them  gently  with  its  feelers. 
What  is  the  ant  doing?  Taking  care  of  his  cattle;  treat- 
ing them  kindly,  like  a  good  herdsman, 
because  it  pays.  They  are  not  very 
handsome  cattle.  They  do  not  give 
milk,  but  they  yield  a  fluid  the  ant 
likes  better.  Each 
little  honey  bug  is  a 
little  sirup  refinery. 
Down  there  underits 
black  head  is  a  little 
beak  thrust  into  the 
tissues  of  the  leaf, 
through  which  the  sap  is  vigorously  sucked  ;  and  in  the  body 
of  the  bug  this  sap  is  "  refined,"  to  be  exuded  through  an 
opening  near  the  end  of  the  body  as  the  sweet  fluid  known 
as  honeydew.  Now  watch  a  honey  bug  when  an  ant 
strokes  it,  and  see  it  lift  a  large  drop  of  this  honeydew  up 
convenient  to  the  ant's  mouth,  and  see  the  ant  (see  Fig.  47) 
promptly  drink  it  down! 

All  this  appears  to  be  for  the  ant's  benefit;  but  the  ant 
is  a  good  herdsman,  and  by  defending  his  cattle  from  all 
their  enemies  he  earns  his  right  to  their  products.  Do  you 
wish  to  see  whether  he  will  really  defend  them  ?  Disturb 


FIG.  46.— Young  honey 
bugs. 


FIG.  47.  — Reward  of 
merit. 


GOLDENROD  :    ITS    VISITORS    AND    ITS   TENANTS.     45 


the  leaf  on  which  some  of  the  honey  bugs  are  feeding,  with 
an  ant  beside  them,  and  the  ant  will  very  likely  rush  at 
your  hand,  and,  like  the  courageous  shepherd  that  he  is, 
without  waiting  to  consider  the  disparity  in  size  between 
you  and  himself,  will  give  your  skin  the  most  vigorous  nip 
of  which  his  little  jaws  are  capable  (Fig.  48). 

Many  times  I  have  tried  stroking  the  bugs  gently  with  a 
hair,  imitating  the  attentions  of  the  ants,  to  see  if  they  would 
respond  by  yielding  a  drop  of  honeydew,  but  always  with- 
out avail.  They  are  not  so  dull  as  they 
look  (Fig.  49).  They  seem  to  know 
their  friends.  But  I  have  noticed  that 
when  they  are  kept  away  from  ants  for 
a  time,  at  intervals  they  will  discharge 
the  honeydew  secreted,  with  a  sudden 
explosive  popgunlike  effort,  and  the 
drop  falls,  at  a  distance  often,  on  the 
ground.  May  not  this 
be  a  means  of  inform- 
ing ants,  which  run 
about  on  the  ground, 
of  their  whereabouts  ?  Fia  49^*dsuli  h°"ey 

FIG.  48.  — Hands  off! 

There   is  a    slight 

little  wasp 59  which  builds  her  nest  of  mud,  and  fashions  it  of 
a  form  as  exquisite  as  any  product  of  the  potter's  wheel ; 
it  is  like  some  antique  vase  in  miniature ;  and  the  wasp 
sometimes  fastens  it  to  an  upright  stem  of  goldenrod 
(Fig.  50).  Were  the  wasp  canvassing  for  a  favorable 
location,  what  could  be  better  than  this?  Here  on  this 
stem  covered  with  rough  hairs  to  which  the  mud  will 
adhere,  in  the  midst  of  an  excellent  foraging  ground,  at  an 
elevation  overlooking  an  expanse  of  meadow,  and  in  the 


46 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


shadow  of  overarching  leaves, — what  place  could  be  better 
suited  to  her  needs?  So  might  we  think  of  it.  at  least; 
and  so  may  we  think,  since  we  may  not  know  what  the 
wasp  thinks.  We  at  least  know  that  here  we  have  found 
this  pretty  vase-shaped  nest-  with  its  precious  contents; 

and  we  have  seen,  on 
a  sunny  afternoon, 
the  mother  wasp,  re- 
turning home  and 
about  to  enter,  stand 
alert  on  a  neighbor- 
ing leaf,  eying  us  sus- 
1  piciously,  and  then 
suddenly  dart  away 
and  disappear,  to  re- 

FIG.  50.— The  vase-maker's  nest.    o.  the  same       turn   tO    OUT  view    no 
from  one  side. 

more. 

So  if  we  study  goldenrod  as  a  living  thing,  filling  a  place 
in  the  world  of  life,  and  study  the  small  beings,  a  few  of 
which  have  been  spoken  of  here,  whose  lives  are  so  closely 
intertwined  with  its  own,  we  shall  find  our  reward  in  that 
intimate  association  with  nature  which  yields  us  pleasures 
that  are  ever  new  and  that  are  farthest  removed  from  all 
that  is  sordid  in  our  own  lives. 


NOT  SO  BLACK  AS  HE  IS  PAINTED.  - 

I.    CROW    CHARACTER. 

EADEN  gray  skies 
dotted  with  mov- 
ing flakes  of  black, 

( ****?-  ^^     - 

"^""—^  lone  trees  in  the 

midst  of  the  field 
with  inky  spots 
on  their  topmost 

boughs,  distant  clamorous  cawing  in 
the  woods, — these  are  crows  to  the  un- 
observing.  Imps  of  blackness,  garru- 
lous, remonstrative,  familiar,  yet  always  distant, —  so  are 
they  known ;  and  few  birds  are  known  at  sight  by  so 
many  people.  But  to  know  crows  at  sight  merely  is 
scarcely  to  know  them  at  all. 

To  know  them  one  must  study  them, — must  see  them 
at  home  and  abroad,  at  work  and  at  play,  hungry  and 
well  fed,  alone  and  in  society.  For  crow  society,  though 
somewhat  exclusive,  has  very  important  functions;  and 
they  are  not  such  shallow  fellows  but  that  their  intimate 
acquaintance  will  well  repay  the  trouble  of  making  it. 
The  most  indifferent  observer,  passing  a  sleek  black  crow 

47 


48 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


upon  a  roadside  tree,  must  have  felt  that  a  pair  of  sharp, 
sagacious  eyes  were  watching  his  every  movement ;  hearing 
a  little  clannish  group  discussing  politics  from  the  top  of 
adjoining  haystacks,  must  have  realized  that  there  is  much 
more  to  this  bird  60  (Fig.  51)  than  a  black  color  and  a  harsh 
voice. 

Black  indeed  he  is ;    not  blue  black,  nor  brown  black, 
but  the  shiny  blackness  of  jet.      And  his  reputation  also 

is  black.  He  is  charged 
with  many  crimes 
against  life  and  prop- 
erty, among  which  the 
one  for  which  he  is  most 
often  condemned  (al- 
ways without  a  hear- 
ing) is  thieving. 

He  does  take  things, 
if  that  be  stealing, — at 
worst  it  is  petty  lar- 
ceny,—  an  egg  here,  a 
roasting  ear  yonder ; 
not  that  wholesale  rob- 
bery which  inspires 
wonderment  and  delays  penalty,  but  the  picking  up  of 
a  bit  of  bread  for  immediate  use,  such  as  in  crows  and 
other  people  seems  to  invite  swift  and  severe  retribution. 
Although,  if  we  own  the  roasting  ear,  we  shall  certainly 
call  it  stealing,  we  must  remember  that  human  ethics  does 
not  hold  for  crows.  We  own  our  little  plot  of  ground,  and 
get  from  it  our  living ;  but  the  crow  owns,  by  right  of  birth, 
a  share  in  the  whole  world.  He  recognizes  no  surveys, 
consults  no  maps,  but  accepts  food  for  his  family  and  for 


FIG.  51.  — Guilty  or  not  guilty? 


NOT   SO    BLACK    AS    HE    IS    PAINTED.  49 

himself  wherever  bountiful  nature  offers  it.  He  eats  a 
strawberry  in  our  garden,  and  a  wild  brambleberry  just 
over  the  fence,  and  is  doubtless  as  guileless  in  one  case  as 
in  the  other.  The  reputation  the  crow  bears  among  us  is 
not  our  estimate  of  his  cJiaracter  at  all,  but  of  the  way  he 
affects  our  interests.  He  may  eat  a  peck  of  corn  that  spills 
from  the  farmer's  wagon  along  the  road,  and  no  one  cares  ; 
but  if  he  pulls  up  a  few  grains  the  farmer  has  planted,  he 
is  forthwith  condemned  to  death.  He  may  perch,  as 
sometimes  he  will,  on  a  post  near  the  poultry  yard,  and 
rail  at  the  big  rooster  till  that  dignified  fowl  is  filled  with 
rage  and  the  peace  of  the  poultry  yard  is  broken.  The 
owner  of  the  yard  smiles  at  this,  but  prepares  vengeance 
if  the  crow  tastes  a  single  egg.  The  only  thing  that  enters 
into  our  account  is  the  thing  that  both  we  and  the  crow 
desire.  We  sometimes  have  to  reckon  with  animals  which 
would  take  from  us  that  we  have  labored  to  procure.  Does 
he  help  or  hinder  us  in  our  efforts  to  get  a  living?  That 
is  the  question. 

To  one  who  has  watched  the  crow  long,  nothing  is  more 
certain  than  that  he  is  neither  unmixed  good  nor  evil. 
Our  account  with  him  is  not  easily  reckoned.  There  are 
many  items  to  be  entered  upon  both  sides  of  it,  and  the 
valuation  to  be  set  opposite  some  of  them  is  uncertain. 
The  evil  he  does  is  much  more  apparent  than  the  good. 
That  is  doubtless  the  reason  he  is  so  often  hastily  con- 
demned. He  may  spend  weeks  in  the  field  eating  noxious 
grubs  and  cutworms ;  we  do  not  see  what  he  eats,  nor 
how  much,  and  may  not  even  know  whether  he  is  doing 
us  any  service  in  removing  such  things ;  but  let  him  eat 
our  roasting  ear,  and  we  see  and  appreciate  our  loss.  As 
we  find  him  one  day  robbing  us,  and  the  next  day  working 


50  OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 

for  us,  how  shall  we  estimate  his  value  ?  A  difficult  matter 
indeed,  and  the  difficulty  lies  in  striking  a  balance.  We 
may  learn,  from  special  studies  that  have  been  made  upon 
the  crow's  food,*  that  the  service  he  renders  the  tiller  of 

the  soil  is  worth  much  more  than 
the  things  he  "steals."  To  be 
sure,  he  does  take  eggs  (Fig.  52) 
sometimes,  and  berries,  but  not 
to  any  great  extent ;  and  he  does 
pull  up  sprouting  corn,  and  he 
does  eat  corn  when  "  in  the 
milk,"  but  only  fora  short  time, 

FIG.  52.  — He  likes  eggs.  ,  r          , 

— a  week  or  two  out  of  each  sea- 
son ;  but  a  greater  part  of  his  living  consists  of  harmful 
little  animals,  insects,  field  mice,  etc.,  and  that  throughout 
the  whole  year,  and  these  would  destroy  far  more  of  our 
crops  than  he  will  eat.  So  his  services  are  better  retained, 
even  though  he  may  need  watching  at  certain  seasons  and 
places.  His  economic  complexion  is  not  bad,  after  all. 

2.   CROW  WIT. 

The  crow  is  a  very  smart  bird.  So  much  even  his 
worst  enemies  will  freely  admit.  When  captured  young, 
and  tamed,  he  may  be  taught  many  tricks ;  but  the  tricks 
he  will  learn  for  himself,  if  left  at  large,  are  quite  as  in- 
teresting as  any  of  human  teaching. 

He  quickly  learns  to  know  a  gun,  —  a  thing  his  ancestors 
of  a  few  generations  back  could  not  have  known.  They 

*  See  Bulletin  No.  6,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  Division 
of  Mammalogy  and  Ornithology  (The  Common  Crow  in  the  United  States), 
by  W.  B.  Barrows  and  E.  A.  Schwarz. 


NOT    SO    BLACK    AS    HE    IS    PAINTED.  51 

may  have  known  bow  and  arrows,  though  it  is  very 
doubtful  if  American  savages  were  half  so  savage  and 
wanton  destroyers  of  bird  life  as  are  most  modern  Nimrods. 

Where  is  the  huntsman  who  will  not  kill  a  crow?  Test 
of  marksmanship,  indeed,  and  marksmanship  is  the  glory 
of  sportsmen,  who  kill,  not,  as  a  tiger  kills,  for  food,  but 
for  the  sake  of  killing  skillfully.* 

He  knows  what  is  a  safe  distance.  A  man  on  horseback 
may  be  allowed  to  come  nearer  than  a  man  afoot,  and  a 
footman  carrying  a  gun  must  not  be  allowed  within  rifle 
range.  He  sits  on  a  fence  while  a  party  of  picnickers  drives 
by,  but  flies  away  to  the  woods  when  a  pedestrian  ap- 
pears half  a  mile  down  the  lane.  He  is  fearless  of  the 
thundering  locomotive,  but  very  suspicious  of  a  string 
stretched  across  a  garden.  He  will  follow  a  busy  plow- 
man in  his  furrow,  but  let  the  plowman  begin  watching 
him,  and  he  moves  farther  away.  Eternal  vigilance  is  in  - 
deed  the  price  of  his  safety. 

He  knows  the  use  of  sentinels.  When  feeding  in  places 
where  he  cannot  see  all  about,  he  has  a  companion  or  two 
stationed  aloft  to  watch  while  he  feeds.  Should  danger 
appear,  the  alarm  is  promptly  given  by  the  watchman. 
The  poultry  yard  or  the  garden  or  the  field  of  new  corn 
is  not  entered  until  a  survey  has  been  made  and  outposts 
stationed. 

Thus  he  has  been  able  to  maintain  his  place,  getting  his 
food  mainly  from  the  cultivated  field,  and  that  in  spite  of 
all  that  misguided  human  ingenuity  has  been  able  to  devise 
for  his  destruction.  Traps  and  snares  are  set  for  him  ;  guns 

*  Read,  in  connection  with  this,  two  short  poems  by  Burns,  that  are  still 
far  in  advance  of  our  times  :  On  Scaring  Some  Waterfowl  in  Loch  Turit,  and 
On  Seeing  a  Wounded  Hare  Limp  by  Me. 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


FIG.  53. — The  effect  of  scarecrows. 


are  leveled  at  him  ;  scarecrows  perch  in  the  field  to  keep 
him  from  his  food  (Fig.  53).  But  somehow  he  evades  his 
danger,  and  gets  his  food,  and  lives  on ;  and  we  have  but 
to  lift  our  eyes  to  the  fields  to  see  his  sable  form,  or  turn 

our  ear  to  the  woods 
when  the  air  is  still  to 
catch  his  unmusical 
voice. 

He  is  not  less  skillful 
in  getting  that  part  of  his 
food  which  he  takes  from 
other  animals.  He  eats 
*-•  "  **  the  eggs  of  robins  some- 
times, and,  of  course,  does 
not  get  them  without  a 
protest.  The  parent  birds 
usually  make  a  vigorous  fight,  and  often  the  crow  is  able  to 
get  eggs  only  by  strategy.  One  crow  approaches  the  nest, 
while  another  waits  near  by.  The  first  is  pounced  upon  by 
the  robins  and  their  friends,  and  when  driven  well  away,  the 
second  rushes  in  and  robs  the  unprotected  nest,  and  is  away 
with  his  spoil  before  the  robins61  can  return.  Crows  are  very 
fond  of  mice.  The  meadow  mice,62  whose  nest  consists  of 
a  bunch  of  matted  grass  hidden  at  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
form  an  important  part  of  their  food.  And  they  hunt  these 
with  all  the  skill  and  knowledge  of  habit  which  should 
characterize  a  good  collector  of  specimens.  They  know 
that  every  shock  of  corn  that  stands  over  winter  in  the 
field  is  likely  to  contain  one  or  more  families  of  these  mice. 
So  when  the  farmer  goes  out  in  late  winter  or  spring  to 
haul  in  the  corn,  they  go  along.  They  perch  at  a  good 
distance  while  the  corn  is  being  loaded,  and  as  soon  as  it 


NOT   SO   BLACK   AS   HE   IS   PAINTED.  53 

is  driven  away  they  approach  and  hunt  for  the  scattered, 
homeless  mice,  now  hiding  under  temporary  shelter. 

In  meadows  these  mouse  nests  are  placed  here  and  there 
in  the  sod,  and  are  only  found  by  considerable  searching ; 
but  when  the  snow  is  melting  in  spring,  the  crow  knows 
how  to  find  them  more  easily.  The  heat  from  the  tenanted 
nest  melts  the  snow  above  it  more  rapidly  than  elsewhere, 
making  a  hole.  By  these  holes  the  crow  locates  the  nests, 
and  pounces  upon  them,  tearing  them  apart,  and  seizing 
their  occupants  before  they  have  time  to  escape  through 
their  runways  under  the  snow. 

As  the  crow  is  ever  ready  to  reap  where  others  have 
sown,  so  he  will  profit  by  the  labor  of  others  at  every 
opportunity.  A  hog  is  quietly  rooting  in  an  orchard ;  a 
crow  sees  that  the  hog  is  eating  the  beetles  and  grubs  that 
live  in  upturned  turf,  and  he  wants  a  share  of  them.  From 
the  ground  he  cannot  see  well  enough,  and  from  the  fence 
he  could  not  get  to  the  beetles  before  they  are  eaten,  so 
he  deliberately  perches  upon  the  fat  porker's  neck.  The 
rooting  is  continued,  with  perhaps  a  grunt  of  remonstrance  ; 
and  then,  when  a  nice  fat  grub  is  thrown  upon  the  soil, 
the  crow  drops  down  and  seizes  it  quickly,  and  resumes 
his  perch.  And  he  is  often  able  to  continue  this  imposi- 
tion for  some  time. 

So  he  takes  advantage  of  circumstances,  availing  himself 
of  all  sorts  of  aids.  He  lives  largely  by  his  wit ;  he  adapts 
himself  quickly  to  circumstances.  He  is  a  close  observer, 
and  can  turn  what  he  sees  to  practical  account. 


DRAGON    FLIES. 


I.    THE    SKIMMERS. 

HEN  it  is  high  noon  on 
the  mill  pond,  —  when 
leaves  droop,   and  the 
sun  glares  upon  the  wa- 
ter, and  the  air  is  hot  and 
still,   when  other  crea- 
tures seek  theshade,  and 
even  the  swallows  that 
skim   the    air   morning 
and  evening  are  resting, 
— then  thoseotherswal- 
lows  of  the  insect  world, 
the  dragon  flies,  are  all  abroad. 
Is  the  eye  pleased  with  gay 
colors,  with  light  and  airy  mo- 
tion?     Then    let   it   turn   to 
these.    Swift  as  the  swallows, 

and  adorned  with  colors  of  rainbow  brilliance,  these  will 
fill  the  pause  and  enliven  the  landscape  at  the  summer 
noonday  hour.  At  such  times  one  is  content  to  lie  in  the 
shade,  using  only  his  eyes ;  arid  there  is  hardly  a  pond  in 
the  land  where  one's  eye  may  not  follow  the  charmed  flight 
of  these  beautiful  insects. 

54 


DRAGON    FLIES. 


55 


Dragon  flies  (Fig.  54)  63  are  creatures  of  sunshine  and  of 
summer.  On  cloudy  and  windy  days  they  keep  to  shelter. 
In  moderate  weather  the  passage  of  a  cloud  across  the  sun 
will  send  some  of  them  to  the  bushes.  But  when  the  air 
is  still,  and  the  sun  is  blazing,  its  beams  call  them  forth  to 
a  wonderful  activity.  One  may  stand  by  the  side  of  a 


FIG.  54. —A  creature  of  sunshine. 

small  pond,  and  follow  for  hours  with  his  eye  the  evolu- 
tions of  one  of  the  large  dragon  flies,  skimming  over  the 
surface  in  zigzag  lines  or  sweeping  curves,  stopping  still 
in  midair,  and  starting  again,  seeming  never  to  rest,  nor 
ever  to  tire.  Poised  in  the  air,  with  the  sunlight  dancing 
on  its  trembling  wings,  it  is  indeed  a  beautiful  sight. 

"  Dragon  flies?  Folks  call  'em  '  devil's  darnin'  needles  ' 
in  our  parts,  and  say  they  will  sew  up  your  ears."  Yes; 
and  in  some  localities  they  are  called  "  snake  doctors,"  and 
are  said  to  bring  dead  snakes  to  life ;  and  other  meaning- 
less names  are  given  them,  such  as  ic  snake  feeders," 


56  OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 

"horse  stingers,"  "mule  killers,"  etc.;  but  in  spite  of  all 
these  bad  names  and  the  silly  superstitions  they  represent, 
dragon  flies  are  entirely  harmless  to  man,  —  are,  indeed,  to 
be  counted  as  friends,  for  they  destroy  vast  numbers  of 
mosquitoes  and  gnats  and  pestiferous  little  flies.  To  such 
creatures  they  must  seem  real  dragons  of  the  air.  While 
one  is  standing  by  the  pond,  let  him  follow  awhile  the  ac- 
tions of  a  dragon  fly  that  is  making  short  dashes  in  different 
directions  close  to  the  bank.  Let  him  fix  his  eye  on  a  little 


FIG.  55. — The  ten-spot  (natural  size). 

fly  hovering  in  the  air,  and  note  that  after  the  dragon  fly  has 
made  a  dart  toward  it,  it  is  gone.  Let  him  repeat  the  ob- 
servation as  the  dragon  fly  goes  darting  hither  and  thither. 
It  will  be  hard  to  see  the  flies  captured,  so  quickly  it  is  done, 
but  one  can  see  that  the  place  that  once  knew  them  knows 
them  no  more.  And  the  usefulness  of  the  dragon  fly  in 
taking  off  such  water-haunting  pests  will  be  appreciated. 
In  any  locality  there  are  many  different  kinds  of  dragon 
flies.  Those  of  which  we  have  been  speaking  are  called 
the  skimmers.^  One  of  the  commonest  and  prettiest  of 


DRAGON    FLIES. 


CALiH 


these  is  the  ten-spot,65  shown  in  Fig.  55.  The  ten  chalky 
white  spots  of  the  wings  which  give  the  name  are  present 
only  in  the  male  ;  but  the  wings  of  the  female  differ  only  in 
lacking  these  spots.  This  is  a  pond-loving  species. 


FIG.  56.— The  whitetail  (slightly  enlarged). 

The  whitetail,66  shown  in  Fig.  56,  is  often  associated  with 
the  latter,  though  this  one  is  more  widely  distributed, 
and  sometimes  shows  a  preference  for  slow-flowing  brooks 
and  open  ditches  of  water.  It  flies  less  continuously  than 
the  ten-spot,  and  when  it  rests  has  a  habit  of  setting  its 
wings  aslant  downward  and  forward  with  a  succession  of 


58  OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 

jerks.  The  attitude  shown  in  the  figure  is  a  common  and 
characteristic  one.  The  males  may  be  seen  perched  thus 
upon  reeds  or  stumps,  or  even  upon  the  bare  earth.  Here, 
again,  the  common  name  is  only  descriptive  of  the  old 
males.  These,  however,  are  the  ones  oftenest  seen.  Fe- 
males and  young  males  have  the  body  brown,  marked 
with  yellow.  The  powdery  whiteness  of  the  body  appears 
not  to  be  without  its  disadvantages  to  the  males,  for  it 


FIG.  57. — The  water  prince. 

renders  them  more  easily  seen  by  their  feathered  enemies. 
We  shall  find,  in  studying  this  dragon  fly  afield,  that  the 
whitest  ones  avoid  resting  places  over  a  dark  background, 
and  settle  oftenest  on  white  sticks,  on  bleached  stumps, 
and  on  the  earth  where  it  is  of  light  color.  Very  frequently 
one  will  alight  on  a  white  insect  net  when  it  is  laid  down, 
or  even  when  held  still  in  the  hand. 

Another  common  skimmer — common  enough,  indeed, 


DRAGON    FLIES.  59 

but  very  hard  to  capture — is  the  water  prince67  (Fig.  57). 
It  is  a  most  persistent  flier.  It  is  abroad  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  flies  until  dark,  disregarding  even  the  clouds,  cours- 
ing the  banks  of  ponds  and  lakes,  seeming  never  to  wander 
far  from  their  mirroring  surface,  and  never  satiated  with 
the  indulgence  of  its  superb  aerial  powers. 

Of  similar  strength  of  wing,  and  often  found  associated 
with  the  water  prince,  is  the  upland  skimmer,68  shown  in 
the  initial  cut  of  this  chapter.  This  dragon  fly,  however, 
often  leaves  the  water  to  forage  over  upland  fields  and 
orchards,  where,  on  windy  days  in  summer,  it  may  some- 
times be  seen  in  the  lee  of  fruit  trees,  poised  in  air,  watch- 
ing for  insects  dislodged  from  the  foliage  by  the  wind. 


FIG.  58.— The  amberwing  (male).  FIG.  59.— The  amberwing  (female). 

Weaklings,  as  compared  with  these,  are  the  little  amber- 
wings,69  found  about  the  same  ponds,  but  keeping  nearer  to 
the  shore  and  to  the  surface  of  the  water.  The  wings  of 
this  species  are  of  a  clear  amber  tint,  in  the  male  unmarked, 
in  the  female  richly  spotted  with  dark  brown,  as  shown  in 
Figs.  58  and  59.  These  move  about  the  shores  with  a  slow, 
hovering  flight,  and  rest  often  on  the  tips  of  erect  reeds, 
with  wings  held  perfectly  horizontal.  A  sun  cloud  or  a 
quick  breeze  will  send  them  to  the  weeds,  and  on  a  cool 
or  a  blustery  day  they  will  scarcely  show  themselves ;  but 


6o 


OUTDOOR   STUDIES. 


when  the  sun  shines  warm  and  the  air  is  still,  they  dance 
along  the  shores,  seemingly  feeling  as  fully  as  their  stronger 
relatives  the  happiness  of  being  alive. 

One  may  conclude  much  too  quickly  that  one  knows 
the  habits  of  dragon  flies.  What  has  been  said  above  will 
not  apply  to  the  beautiful  wind  sprite 70  shown  in  Fig.  60,  in 
one  respect  at  least.  This  is  a  breeze-loving  species.  On 
windy  days  in  June  it  is  flying,  and  seemingly  quite  as 


FIG.  60.— The  wind  sprite  (enlarged). 

well  pleased  that  the  weather  is  not  calm.  This  is  a 
beautiful  orange  or  yellow  species  marked  with  dark 
brown.  It  frequents  ponds,  does  not  "  skim  "  over  them 
with  the  regularity  of  the  others,  but  rises  and  falls  with 
an  irregular  butterflylike  flight,  or  perches  uneasily  on  the 
tops  of  tall  reeds  high  up  on  the  bank.  It  is  a  slender  and 
delicate  species  such  as  one  would  think  least  able  to  stand 
the  tossing  of  the  wind,  yet  it  is  often  seen  in  its  dancing 
flight  out  over  white-capped  waves. 


DRAGON   FLIES. 


61 


2.    DAMSEL   FLIES    AND    DARNERS. 

Here  is  one  of  the  slender  damsel  flies  (Fig.  61). 
These,  though  less  in  evidence,  are  usually  more 
abundant  throughout  the  whole  season.  These  hold 
their  wings  erect  when  resting,  and  cling  to  the  stems 
and  leaves  of  plants.  On  walking  through  the  mea- 
dows beside  brooks  or  ponds,  one 
will  see  them  arising  before  one's 
feet  and  flitting  like  tinted  shadows 
across  the  grass.  These  fly  low  over  I 
the  water,  and  rest  often  upon  the 
leaves  that  float  upon  the  surface. 
Their  colors  are  of  unusual  variety 
and  brilliancy. 

One  will  not  need  to  watch  them 
long,  as  they  fly  about  open  water,  to 
see  that  they  do  not  venture  up  into 
the  altitude  of  the  stronger  species. 
Dragon  flies  eat  one  another  —  the 
strong  destroy  the  weak;  and  all  but 
the  strongest  species  are  more  or  less 
restricted  in  their  range,  especially  in 
their  common  field  above  the  surface 
of  still  water.  We  who  are  accustomed 
to  roam  the  earth  at  will  sometimes  find 
it  hard  to  realize  how  close  are  the  limitations  that  bound 
and  hem  in  the  lives  of  some  of  earth's  lesser  people. 
Why  do  damsel  flies  keep  so  close  to  water?  The  reason 
is  not  far  to  seek.  If  to  venture  up  into  the  altitude  of 
the  larger  species  means  to  run  the  risk  of  being  eaten,  we 


FIG.  61.  — A  damsel  fly. 


62 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


can  readily  see  why  they  should  stay  down  below.  The 
hawk  may  roam  the  air  at  will,  but  sparrows  must  keep 
to  the  bushes. 


FIG.  62.— Another  damsel  fly.72 

So,  in  fact,  we  find  the  smaller  damsel  flies  flying  over 
water  in  a  straight  course  an  inch  or  less  above  the  surface, 
and  rarely  venturing  higher ;  the  larger  damsel  flies  a  very 

little  higher;  the  amberwings69  at 
an  average  of  about  six  inches ; 
the  larger  skimmers  a  foot  or 
more  from  the  surface,  and  up- 
land skimmers  67  and  darners  still 
higher.  One  has  only  to  stand 
a  little  while  by  some  small  area 
of  water  where  all  these  are  fly- 
ing to  see  that  each  keeps  rather 
closely  to  its  proper  altitude. 

Ponds  are  the  centers  of  drag- 
on-fly life.  There  are,  however, 
other  dragon  flies  that  do  not 
compete  for  a  place  over  open 
water,  but  seek  the  seclusion  of 
reedy  marshes  and  the  close  veg- 
etation of  reed-choked  streams ; 
such  are  the  marsh  nuns73  (Fig. 
FIG.  63.  -A  marsh  nun  63).  These  are  seldom  seen, 


DRAGON    FLIES. 


except  when  flushed  from  their  resting  places  by  intruding 
feet.  They  fly  weakly,  and  soon  settle  on  upright  stems, 
and  are  so  inconspicuous  that,  were  they  not  seen  first 
flying,  they  would  hardly  be  seen  at  all. 

Then  there  are  others  which  have  taken  to  dwelling  by 
the  rapids  of  rushing  streams.  The  blackwing74  (Fig.  64) 
is  a  good  example  of  these.  This  striking  and  beautiful 
insect,  with  its  body  of  metallic  green  and  its  wings  of 
smoky  black,  is  sure  to  attract  attention  wherever  it  occurs. 
It  frequents  all  our  clear  and  rapid 
streams,  and  is  to  be  found  on  the 
wing  during  the  whole  summer. 

The  darners75  are  the  largest 
of  our  dragon  flies.  They  fly 
everywhere,  and.  are  out  early 
and  late.  They  are  often  seen  at 
evening,  slowly  coursing  over  our 
lawns  on  invisible  wings.  They 
exhibit  no  small  degree  of  curi- 
osity. They  will  fly  out  in  the 
stream  to  look  at  a  passing  boat. 
They  will  poise  before  recently 
felled  trees,  or  fly  round  and 

round  a  bank  from  which  earth  has  been  dislodged,  and 
will  return  to  it  again  and  again.  They  will  examine  an 
insect  net,  fishing  tackle,  a  summer  parasol  —  anything 
unusual  appearing  in  places  with  which  they  are  familiar. 
One  will  occasionally  fly  in  at  an  open  window.  On  ac- 
count of  their  great  strength  of  wing,  they  are  exceedingly 
difficult  to  capture.  The  commonest,  perhaps,  and  the  one 
most  generally  distributed  throughout  this  country,  is  the 
common  green  darner76  shown  in  Fig.  65. 


FIG.  64.  — Blackwings. 


64 


OUTDOOR   STUDIES. 


3.     HOW    DRAGON   FLIES   GROW   UP. 

When  watching  dragon  flies  at  a  pond  in  summer,  one  is 
likely  to  see  some  of  them  depositing  their  eggs  ;  the  skim- 
mers descending  to  strike  the  surface  of  the  water  with 
the  tip  of  the  abdomen  repeatedly,  each  time  liberating 
eggs,  which  will  fall  to  the  bottom  and  be  quickly  hidden ; 
the  damsel  flies  industriously  puncturing  the  stems  of 


FIG.  65.  — The  common  green  darner. 

aquatic  plants  just  below  the  surface,  and  placing  their 
eggs  in  the  punctures.  This  has  often  been  pointed  out  as 
a  wonderful  example  of  instinct,  that  the  aerial  mother 
dragon  fly  should  put  her  eggs  back  into  the  water,  where 
her  young  will  find  a  suitable  home. 

The  young,   which   now   we  call  nymphs,   live  in  the 
water,  and  differ  among  themselves  as  to  haunts  and  habits 


DRAGON   FLIES. 


FIG.  66.-Thenymph 
of  the  whitetail. 


as  much  as  do  the  adults.  Here  is  a  fig- 
ure of  the  full-grown  nymph  of  the 

whitetail66    (Fig.    66).       It,    like    other 

nymphs    of    skimmers,    lies     sprawling 

upon  the  bottoms  of  ponds,  amid  fallen 

trash.     It  leads  an  unpromising  youth. 

Its  dull  colors  are  quite  hidden  by  the 

trash  that  adheres  to  the  rough  hairs  of 

its  skin ;   its  gait  is  slow  and  awkward ; 

and,  in  fact,  it   rarely  moves    from  its 

place,  preferring  to  lie  hidden  until  some 

unsuspecting  insect  wanders  within   its 

grasp.    So  it  spends  almost  a  year,  eating 

much  and  growing  rapidly,  shedding  its 

old  skin  whenever  it  gets  too  small,  and  growing  a  new 

one,  but  retaining,  all  the  while,  much  the  same  appearance 

it   had   at   hatching.      Then    summer   comes,   when   it    is 

grown,  and  the  warm  sun,  beaming  down  into  its  pool, 

starts  new  impulses  in  its 
groveling  breast.  It  quits 
the  water  by  climbing  up  a 
convenient  reed  or  stump, 
again  sheds  its  old  skin, 
and  comes  out  of  it  an 
adult  dragon  fly.  Fig.  67 
shows  three  stages  in  the 
act  of  emergence  from  the 
old  nymph  skin.  When 
it  first  gets  out  it  is  limp 
and  pale,  and  looks  about 

**      ™UCh      "ke      an      adult 
emergenceoftheimagofromitsold  nymph        dragQn    fly   ag    a    fag    do], 


66 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


looks  like  a  real  baby.  But  it  clutches  the  support  with  its 
feet,  its  body  lengthens  and  shapes  itself,  its  wings  expand 
and  dry,  and  its  bright  colors  appear;  and  in  half  an  hour 
the  change  is  completed,  and  our  dragon  fly  is  ready  to 
show  its  prowess  in  the  air. 

Fig.  68  represents  a  full-face  view  of  another  nymph,77 
as  seen  through  a  lens.  The  immense  lower  lip  covers  the 
face  nearly  up  to  the  eyes.  The  two  broad  flaps  hinged 
to  its  fore  corners  cover  the  mouth,  and,  when  opened,  these 
show  inside  a  formidable  armament  of  teeth,  hooks,  and 
spines  well  adapted  for  holding  its  prey.  In  a  side  view 


FIG.  69.  —  A  skimmer  nymph  seen  from  the  side,  show- 
ing the  position  of  the  immense  lower  lip  when  folded  be- 
FIG.  68.— A  portrait.          neath  the  head. 

of  the  same  nymph  (Fig.  69)  we  can  see  how  this  organ  is 
doubled  upon  itself  like  a  hinge,  and  extended  backward, 
when  at  rest,  between  the  bases  of  the  fore  legs.  It  can 
be  thrust  forward  with  lightning  speed  to  grasp  the  unwary 
"  wriggler  "  that  has  come  too  near.  Fig.  70  represents 
the  same  nymph  viewed  from  above. 

The  nymph  of  the  common  green  darner76  is  much 
more  active.  It  does  not  lie  in  the  dirt,  but  clambers 
about  among  the  submerged  green  vegetation,  or  even 
swims  from  place  to  place.  It  differs  from  other  common 
species  in  having  several  distinct  changes  of  colors  in  its 
early  life. 


DRAGON    FLIES. 


\ 


When  hatched  it  appears  as  at  A  in  Fig.  71,  and  is  brown- 
ish, with  a  white  cross  upon  its  head.    When  one  fourth  grown 

it    is    alternately    banded 

with    black     and    white, 

as    shown    at   B.     When 

half  grown  it  appears  as  at 

Cy  bright  green,  variously 

mottled  with  brown.   This 

coloration  it  retains  until 

it  leaves  the  water.     It  is 

a  fitting  garb  for  a  nymph 

that  clings  to  green  plant 

stems,  concealing  it  well 

while   it  steals    upon    its 

prey. 

The  nymphs  of  damsel 

flies  also  cling  to  aquatic  vegetation,  often  in  vast  numbers. 

One72  of  them  is  shown  in 
Fig.  72.  All  damsel  flies  have 
three  platelike  gills  (A)  at  the 
end  of  the  body,  and  can 
swim,  when  necessary,  by 


FIG.  70.— Dorsal  view  of  the  nymph 
shown  in  Fig.  69. 


FIG.  71 . — The  nymph  of  the  common 
green  darner.  A  A,  .lew-hatched  .  at  B, 
one  fourth  grown  ;  at  C.  one  half  grown. 


FIG.  72. — A  nymph  of  the  damsel  fly 
shown  in  Fig.  62.  At  A  are  the  gills,  seen 
from  the  fide,  a  little  enlarged. 


68 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


sculling  with  these  gills.     The  smaller  ones  are  protected 
by  being  of  the  same  color  as  their  surroundings. 

The  nymphs  of  the  marsh  nuns73  (Fig.  73),  gracefully 
ill-balanced  creatures  living  among  closer  vegetation  in 


FIG.  73. —  Nymph  of  a  marsh  nun  shown  in  Fig.  63.    A,  the  gills  enlarged. 

which  are  many  dead  stems,  are  green  and  brown,  the 
amount  of  either  color  varying  to  suit  their  surroundings. 
Their  broad  gills  (A)  are  beautifully  banded  with  brown. 

None  are  more  protectively  colored  than  the  nymphs  of  the 
blackwings74  (Fig.  74),  which  live  in  the  streams  about  which 
later  they  will  fly.  These  cling  to  stems  that  are  swayed 
by  the  rushing  current.  They  are  stiff,  awkward  creatures. 

brownish,  with  a 
pale  band  ex- 
tending  back- 
ward from  the 
head,  indistin- 
guishable from 
the  sticks  about 
them  when  in 
their  natural  sur- 
roundings. 

FIG.  74.— Nymph  of  the  blackwings  shown  in  Fig.  64.  However  van- 


DRAGON    FLIES. 


69 


ous  may  be  the  form  of  dragon-fly  nymphs,  they  are  all  at 
once  recognizable  and  distinguishable  from  all  other  aquatic 
animals  by  their  immense  hinged,  grasping  lower  lip. 


4.     HOW    TO    REAR    DRAGON    FLIES. 

Live  dragon  flies  must  be  studied  out  of  doors  and  in 
summer ;  but  the  nymphs  can  be  found  any  time,  and  when 
alive  are  well  adapted  to  indoor  study.  They  are  easily  col- 
lected and  easily  kept,  and  one 
will  find  much  of  interest  in 
seeing  how  they  walk  and  swim 
and  breathe  and  hide  and  cap- 
ture their  prey.  If  one  wishes 
to  collect  the  nymphs  which  lie 
sprawling  amid  fallen  trash,  a 
garden  rake  with  which  to  draw 
the  trash  ashore,  fingers  not 
too  dainty  to  pick  them  up 
when  they  make  themselves 
conspicuous  by  their  active 
efforts  to  get  back  into  the 
water,  and  a  pail  of  water  in 
"which  to  carry  them  home,  are 
all  the  apparatus  required. 

A   rake   will    bring  ashore 
those  other  nymphs78  which 
burrow    shallowly   under   the 
sediment  that  lies  on  the  bot- 
tom, and  also  a  few  of  those  that  cling  to  vegetation  near 
the  surface ;    but  for  getting  these  latter  a  net  is  better. 
Fig.  75  shows  the  construction  of  a  good  water  net  that 


FIG.  75.— A  home-made  water  net.  a, 
the  handle,  grooved  on  opposite  sides 
at  the  end;  b,  a  loop  of  very  heavy  wire 
or  of  iron  rod,  whose  crossed  and  par- 
allel ends  are  bent  at  right  angles  to 
the  plane  of  the  loop.  These  ends  are 
placed  in  the  grooves  of  the  handle  and 
wrapped  with  fine  wire.  «,  the  com- 
pleted net  with  brace  and  bag  added; 
N,  the  net,  from  above;  d,  a  brace  of 
fine  wire  whose  ends  are  wrapped 
about  grooves  filed  in  the  large  loop; 
e,  a  strip  of  muslin  sewed  to  the  loop; 
/,  a  shallow  bag  of  grass  cloth  or  hair 
net,  sewed  to  the  muslin. 


7O  OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 

can  be  made  at  home  out  of  a  piece  of  grass  cloth,  two 
sizes  of  wire,  and  a  stick. 

The  best  places  to  search  for  dragon-fly  nymphs  in 
general  are  the  reedy  borders  of  ponds  and  the  places 
where  trash  falls  in  the  eddies  of  creeks.  The  smaller  the 
body  of  water,  if  permanent,  the  more  likely  it  is  to  yield 
good  collecting.  The  nymphs  may  be  kept  in  any  reason- 
ably clean  vessel  that  will  hold  water.  Some  clean  sand 
should  be  placed  in  the  bottom,  especially  for  burrowers, 
and  water  plants  for  damsel-fly  nymphs  to  rest  on.  They 
may  be  fed  occasionally  upon  such  small  insects  (smaller 
than  themselves)  as  a  water  net  or  a  sieve  will  catch  in 
any  pond.  Their  habits  can  be  studied  at  leisure  in  a  dish 
of  water  on  one's  desk  or  table. 

The  best  season  for  collecting  them  is  spring  and  early 
summer.      April  and  May  are  the  best  months  of  the  year, 
because  at  this  time  most  nymphs  are  nearly  grown,  and, 
if  taken  then,  will  need  to  be  kept  but 
a  short  time  before  transforming  into 
adults.   And  this  transformation  every 
one  should   see ;    it  will  be   worth  a 
week's  work  at  the  desk ;  and  as  it  can 
be  appreciated  only  by  being   seen, 
'   fV!mi£friSg      some  simple  directions  are  here  given 
for  bringing  the  nymphs  to  maturity. 

Place  them  in  a  wooden  pail  or  tub  (Fig.  76).  If  the  sides 
are  so  smooth  that  they  cannot  crawl  up  to  transform,  put 
some  sticks  in  the  water  for  them  to  crawl  out  on.  Tie 
mosquito  netting  tightly  over  the  top,  or,  better,  make  a 
screen  cover;  leave  three  or  four  inches  of  air  between  the 
water  and  the  netting ;  feed  at  least  once  a  week ;  set 
them  where  the  sun  will  reach  them ;  and  after  the  advent 


DRAGON    FLIES.  7  I 

of  warm  spring  weather  look  in  on  them  early  every  morn- 
ing to  see  what  is  going  on. 

A  most  delightful  and  instructive  outing  for  a  summer 
morning  would  be  a  trip  to  a  pond  to  see  the  skimmers 
leaving  the  water,  transforming,  and  taking  flight.  The 
time  for  it,  however,  must  be  wisely  chosen  to  avoid  dis- 
appointment. Skimmers64  emerge  very  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, generally  between  daybreak  and  sunrise,  though  a  few 
stragglers  will  be  later.  They  appear  most  abundantly 
in  June,  or  earlier,  of  course,  in  the  South. 

If  one  can  be  out  at  the  pond  by  six  o'clock  some  clear 
morning,  when  the  adults  of  some  dragon  fly  that  is  known 
tobecommonare 
just  beginning  to 
appear,  he  may 
be  sure  of  finding 
them  transform- 
ing. There  will 
be  some  nymphs 
crawling  up  the 
banks,  images 
pulling  them- 
selvesoutoftheir 

FIG.  77.  — The  cast-off  skin  of  the  water  prince  (Fig.  57). 

old  nymph  skins, 

others  drying  their  wings,  others  ready  to  fly,  and  all  within 

a  few  feet  of  the  margin  of  the  water. 

They  are  by  no  means  easy  to  see  at  first.  It  would  be 
such  an  error  as  nature  seldom  commits  if  at  the  time  of 
their  complete  helplessness  they  were  as  conspicuous  as 
they  become  later.  But  close  to  the  place  whence  one 
arises  to  take  its  first  flight,  others  are  likely  to  be  found 
in  transformation. 


72  OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 

At  noon  one  would  find  only  dry  and  empty  nymph 
skins  clinging  to  the  sedges.  And  there,  unless  beaten 
down  by  wind  or  rain,  each  empty  husk  (Fig.  77)  still 
clings,  useless  now,  or  sometimes  furnishing  a  night's  shel- 
ter to  some  mendicant  plant  bug,  until  the  festive,  sportive, 
aerial  life  of  its  former  occupant  has  run  its  swift  course. 


BOGUS   EYES. 

I.     EYE    PICTURES. 

IS  easy  to  be  alarmed.    Real  dan- 
ger is  not  at  all  necessary.     Thun- 
der never  hurts  any  one,  yet  it 
frightens  a  good  many.     Who  has 
not  felt  the  fear  of  the  dark,  when 
darkness  held  only  the  creatures 
of  one's  own  imagining?    A  horse 
that  shies  at  a  flying  paper  is  not 
more  timorous  than  we  human  folk 
when  dealing  with  things  we  do  not  understand. 
This  timidity  is  doubtless  the  safeguard  of  igno- 
rance, but  it  is  better  to  learn  and  to  act  intelligently. 

The  eye  is  a  wonderful  instrument  of  communication. 
It  tells  its  owner  the  contents  of  the  world ;  it  tells  the 
world  the  intents  of  its  owner.  It  is  a  precious  thing. 
Animals  know  that  their  enemies  are  powerless  without 
its  aid,  so  they  try  to  destroy  it.  Birds  and  snakes  strike 
at  it  in  fighting,  and  bees  and  wasps  try  to  sting  it  to  put 
it  out.  It  is  a  thing  of  terror  in  proportion  to  the  advan- 
tage it  gives  its  possessor.  Hunters  tell  us  there  is  no 
horror  so  blood-curdling  as  the  gleam  of  a  suspected  eye 
in  the  darkness  of  the  jungle. 

73 


74 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


"  Eat  not  thou  the  bread  of  him  that  hath  an  evil  eye/' 
said  Solomon.  That  is  the  policy  of  the  animal  world, —  to 
have  nothing  to  do  with  any  creature  possessing  the  eye 
of  a  foe.  If  there  be  one  thing  more  than  another  of  which 

animals  are  suspicious,  it  is  a 
strange-looking  eye.  Nature  has 
taken  advantage  of  this  fact  in  pro- 
tecting some  of  the  most  innocent 
little  creatures  by  developing  upon 
them  spots  that  look  like  sinister 
eyes. 

The  two  'owl  beetles79  shown  in 
Fig.  78  are  good  examples.  These 
two  were  found  lying  in  just  this 
position  on  an  old  log  under  a  piece 
of  bark.  They  are  not  uncommon 
in  early  summer  about  woods  and 
orchards,  and  being  large,  conspic- 
uously marked,  and  widely  distrib- 
uted, they  are  fairly  well  known. 
Their  color  is  black,  sprinkled 

with  gray.  The  eyes  are  at  the  sides  of  the  head,  which 
is  partly  concealed  at  the  extreme  front  of  our  figure. 
Those  big,  staring,  eyelike  spots  are  spots  merely,  not  eyes 
at  all,  not  even  on  the  head. 

These  are  click  beetles,80  and  when  placed  on  their  backs 
can  spring  high  into  the  air  and  alight  right  side  up  again  ; 
but,  unlike  others  of  the  family,  these,  upon  alighting,  do 
not  seek  to  run  and  hide,  but  lie  as  shown  in  the  figure, 
with  their  legs  drawn  up  out  of  view,  motionless,  staring, 
trusting  that  their  frightful  aspect  will  cause  their  enemies 
to  let  them  alone. 


FIG.  78.  — Owl  beetles. 


BOGUS    EYES. 


75 


Doubtless  this  trust  is  well  founded.  That  these  eye- 
spots  are  terrifying  is  shown  by  the  way  some  ignorant 
people  are  frightened  by  them.  More  than  once,  when 
showing  these  beetles  to  some  one  who  had  never  seen 
them,  they  have  called  forth  at  first  sight  the  exclamation, 
"  Oh,  how  horrid!  "  But  after  explaining  that  these  were 
only  spots,  and  showing  the  eyes  on  the  head,  the  next 
remark  has  been,  "Why,  how  interesting!  "  Having 
called  attention  to  the  rich  velvety  blackness  of  the  spots, 
and  the  whiteness  of  the  rings  around  them,  and  having 
shown  that  the  whole  is  but  a  color  effect, —  an  eye  picture, 
—  then  the  remark  has  been,  "  How  beautiful!  " 

Such  are  the  results  of  education ! 

There  are  several  little  flower  beetles,  one  of  which  81  is 
shown  in  Fig.  79,  very  common  in  midsummer  on  the  flower 
clusters  of  sumach  82  and  New  Jersey  tea.83  Their  wing 


FIG.  79.  —A  flower  beetle. 


FIG.  80.— The  eye-spot  in  use. 


covers  do  not  reach  the  hinder  end  of  the  body,  but  are 
cut  across  squarely  like  a  sack  coat,  and  behind  these  the 
body  slopes  abruptly  downward.  On  their  sloping  hinder 
end  is  a  large  black  spot,  more  or  less  completely  sur- 


76 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


rounded  with  a  ring  of  pale  yellow.  This  is  an  eye-spot, 
though  one  would  hardly  think  so  unless  he  had  seen  it 
serving  its  purpose.  But  any  one  can  easily  see  it  in  its 
proper  setting  by  visiting  sumach  flowers  when  they  are  in 
full  bloom.  Some  of  the  beetles  present  will  be  found  to 
have  crawled  head  first  among  the  flowers,  with  only  the 
end  bearing  the  eye-spot  exposed,  this  strongly  suggesting 
the  eye  of  a  large  lizard  (Fig.  80). 

Here  is  a  common  wood-nymph  butterfly84  (Fig.  81), 
sometimes  called  the  dim-eyed  grayling.  It  is  often  seen  in 
summer  about  the  borders  of  woods,  fluttering  along,  and 
alighting  suddenly  upon  some  dead  stick.  Resting  in  such 


FIG.  81.  — The  dim-eyed  grayling. 

a  place,  with  wings  folded  above  its  back,  it  would  be  well- 
nigh  indistinguishable  but  for  the  two  big  eye-spots  of  its 
fore  wings,  which  stand  out  boldly.  Imagine  the  feelings 
of  an  enemy  pursuing  this  butterfly,  when  suddenly  it 
alights,  and,  instead  of  the  grayling,  its  foe  sees  only  two 
glaring  eyes,  large  enough  to  belong  to  some  powerful 


BOGUS    EYES.  77 

marauder  These  spots  are  more  than  dots  of  blue  en- 
circled with  black  and  yellow ;  they  look  deep  and  danger- 
ous. The  pale  scales  of  the  center  are  scattered  over  one 
side  to  imitate  che  effect  of  light  falling  upon  a  spherical 
surface.  The  butterfly  sits  still,  almost  allowing  itself  to 
be  stepped  upon,  holding  its  danger  signal  rigidly  aloft  as 
if  conscious  that  this  is  its  best  defense. 


2.     LARVAL   EYE-SPOTS. 

The  preceding  examples  of  eye-spots  are  all  taken  from 
adult  insects.  Larvae  profit,  oftentimes,  by  wearing  similar 
warning  colors. 

The  black  swallowtail 85  is  the  familiar  butterfly  shown  in 
the  initial  cut  of  this  chapter.  Its  larvae  feed  upon  wild 
parsnip  86  and  caraway,87  and  are  certainly  common  enough 
to  be  well  known.  The  larva  at  first  is 
the  little  spiny  fellow  shown  in  Fig.  82, 
brownish,  with  paler  band  around  the 
middle  of  its  body.  It  is  at  this  stage 
small  and  inconspicuous,  and  has  not  yet 
developed  eye-spots.  When  it  has  grown 
larger,  lost  its  spines,  donned  a  showy 
coat  of  green  and  black  and  yellow,  and 
is  more  in  need  of  defense,  these  are  de- 
veloped. Fig.  83  is  Of  a  full-grown  FIG  82. -Young  larva  of 
,  r  ,.  T  .  .  .  .  ,  the  black  swallowtail. 

larva  feeding.  In  this  position  the 
spots  are  not  well  shown,  being  partly  hidden  in  a  fold 
behind  the  head ;  but  the  larva  has  only  to  be  disturbed 
to  bring  them  into  view.  It  draws  itself  up  in  a  somewhat 
threatening  attitude,  and  there  the  spots  appear,  not  on 
the  head  at  all,  but  on  the  next  succeeding  ring  of  the 


7»  OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 

body  (Fig.  84,  A).  Does  any  one  object  that  these  do  not 
look  much  like  eyes  —  that  they  could  hardly  frighten? 
Let  him  cover  these  spots  in  the  figure  with  two  bits  of 
paper,  and  note  how  much  more  peaceable  the  larva  ap- 
pears, even  to  him  who  knows  what  the  spots  are.  And 
then  let  him  remember  that  they  are  not  likely  to  be  ex- 


FIG.  83.  — A  grown  larva  of  the  black  swallowtail. 

amined  long  or  critically  by  bird  or  beast.  People  do  not 
always  act  coolly  when  they  scent  danger.  Very  deliber- 
ate persons  have  been  known  to  get  out  of  tall  grass  with 
undignified  haste  simply  because  they  thought  they  heard 
a  hissing  in  it. 

These  larval  eye-spots  are  but  poor  imitations,  to  be 
sure ;  but  they  are  so  placed  that  they  give  the  impression  of 
eyes,  —  of  large  eyes,  too,  —  and  that  answers  the  purpose. 
The  stick  that  turns  under  one's  foot  in  the  meadow  does 
not  closely  resemble  a  rattlesnake,  yet  one  startles  at  it 
sometimes,  and  even  feels  safer  upon  reaching  the  bare 
roadway.  Fortunately,  we  have  our  own  experiences  to 
help  us  understand  how  it  is  that  some  animals  are  fright- 


BOGUS   EYES. 


79 


ened  by  such  simple  make-believes.  The  animal  that 
reads  its  terrors  in  the  eye  of  a  crafty  foe  shuns  the  like- 
ness of  an  eye  as  a  burned  child  shuns  the  fire. 

Eye-spots  are  not  the  sole  defense  of  this  larva.      Poke 
it  with  a  straw,  or  otherwise  tease  it  further,  and  it  will 
thrust  out  from  above   the  eye-spots  a  great,  frightful, 
forked  horn  (Fig.  84,  B).    This  is  not  much 
of  a  weapon  for  active  warfare,  being  in 
fact  soft  and  membranous,  but  its  defen- 
sive value  lies  in  its  looks  and  in  the  sick- 
ening odor  it  gives  off. 

When  the  larva  transforms  into  a  pupa 


FIG.  84.—  A,  the  black  swallowtail  larva 
when  disturbed  and  viewed  from  the 
front;  B,  with  its  "horns"  protruded. 


FIG.  85.  — Pupa  of  the 
black  swallowtail. 


(Fig.  85),  it  becomes  again  of  very  inconspicuous  color,  and 
the  eye- spots  and  horns  have  entirely  disappeared. 

Aquatic  animals  also  carry  eye-spots  sometimes.  The 
young  dogfish88  carries  one  in  his  tail,  which  in  fleeing 
through  the  water  shows  to  a  pursuer  a  great  red  eye, 
flashing  now  to  right  and  now  to  left,  as  the  tail  fin  flaps 
back  and  forth  in  the  water. 

In  all  our  brooks  there  are  crane-fly  larvae,  living  in  the 
midst  of  the  trash  that  is  swept  against  the  banks.  Fig. 
86,  A,  shows  a  large  one89  that  is  common  in  such  places, 
and  is  often  taken  when  collecting  other  aquatic  insects. 
At  the  posterior  end  of  the  body  are  the  apertures  of  a 


8o 


OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 


pair  of  breathing  tubes.  These  are  ringed  with  black  and 
form  small  eye-spots,  whose  value  as  eye-spots  is  greatly 
enhanced  by  the  modification  of  surrounding  parts  to  form 
a  rather  frightful  face.  Withdrawn  from  the  water,  this 

face  does  not  show  well ; 
but  if  the  animal  be 
placed  alive  in  a  dish  of 
very  shallow  water,  it 
will  spread  out  this  face 
upon  the  surface  in  its 
accustomed  position  for 
breathing.  At^isshown 
this  part  of  the  same  spe- 
cies, seen  through  a  lens. 
At  C  is  shown  this  part 
of  another  crane-fly 
larva.90 

These  are  but  a  few 
examples  of  eye-spots 
where  many  might  be 
found.  But  the  reader 
may  find  the  many  about 

Fie.  86.—  A,  a  crane-fly  larva;   P,  the  posterior 

end  of  the  same  more  enlarged;  C  (after  Hart),  the  hlS  Own  home,  and  each 
same  part  of  another  species. 

new  one  will  be  an  added 

source  of  gratification  and  surprise,  for  each  is  developed 
in  its  own  way  and  place. 

One  will  soon  observe  that  the  most  perfect  of  warning 
eye-spots  belong  to  the  most  helpless  and  harmless  little 
creatures ;  and  if  one  be  actually  frightened  by  a  "  bogus  " 
eye,  let  him  console  himself  by  reflecting  that  it  is  nature's 
contrivance  to  outwit  ignorance,  and  is  gratifyingly  suc- 
cessful. 


ANT-LIONS. 

IERCENESS  is  not  a  matter  of 
size.  Some  of  the  smallest  an- 
imals are  among  the  most  fero- 
cious. In  popular  speech  a 
few  little  insects  have  come  to 
be  called  "lions"  and  "tigers," 
and  their  names  are  at  least 
suggestive  of  their  bloodthirst- 
iness.  Among  these  are  ant-lions,91  little  sand  dwellers, 
harmless  enough  to  ourselves,  but  fearful  foes  of  ants  and 
other  small  ground  insects. 

Now,  lions  live  in  the  desert,  and  ant-lions  live  in  the 
miniature  deserts  of  our  fields  and  woods,  in  little  stretches 
of  sand,  in  the  dust  that  lies  untrodden  in  the  lee  of  a 
sheltering  rock,  in  the  powdered  remains  of  an  old  log 
wherein  as  yet  no  plant  is  growing;  and  both  lions  and 
ant-lions  wait  in  hiding  to  capture  by  stealth  stragglers 
running  across  these  exposed  places  to  the  friendly  shelter 
of  their  homes.  The  king  of  beasts  and  the  ant-lion  have 
little  more  than  this  in  common. 

The  ant-lion  knows  a  trick  that  doubtless  the  great  lion 
never  thought  of.  He  digs  a  pitfall  in  the  sand,  hides 
himself  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and  waits  for  some  unwary 

6  8l 


82  OUTDOOR    STUDIES. 

traveler  to  fall  into  it.  The  sides  of  his  pit  are  so  steep 
that  at  a  touch  the  sand  rolls  down,  and  he  holds  his  great 
jaws  in  readiness  at  the  bottom.  If  a  bustling  ant  steps 
over  the  pit,  the  loose  sand  gives  way  and  down  it  slides. 
The  harder  it  scrambles  to  get  out,  the  faster  it  goes  to 
the  bottom,  where  it  is  promptly  disposed  of  by  the  ter- 
rible jaws. 

The  way  to  find  ant-lions  is  to  go  a-hunting  their  pits. 
These  are  little  conical  depressions  such  as  shown  in  our 
initial  cut,  usually  in  fine,  loose  sand,  two  inches,  more 
or  less,  across,  and  less  than  an  inch  deep,  with  very 
smooth  sides,  as  steep  as  the  sand  will  lie.  They  occur 
sometimes  upon  an  exposed  bar  so  thickly  as  almost  to  cover 
it.  Under  the  trees  that  fringe  the  banks  of  our  larger 
streams,  near  the  high-water  line,  there  are  long  stretches 
of  undisturbed  sand,  in  which  pitfalls  are  usually  abundant. 
A  few  may  often  be  found  in  the  red  and  powdered 
remains  of  an  old  log  in  the  woods,  or  in  the  dust  upon 
a  ledge  under  an  overhanging  rock.  In  such  places 
one  may  expect  to  find  them  almost  any  day  in  summer 
when  the  ground  is  dry. 

Having  found  a  pit,  it  is  easy  enough  to  get  its  owner. 
A  dip  with  a  big  spoon  or  with  the  hand  down  into  the 
sand  at  one  side  of  the  pit,  and  a  toss  of  the  whole  estab- 
lishment into  the  air,  and  we  will  see  lying  somewhere 
amid  the  scattered  sand  an  elongated  brownish  lump,  con- 
sisting apparently  of  sand  grains  stuck  together.  This  is 
the  ant-lion.  His  stiff  hairs  hold  a  complete  layer  of  sand 
grains  close  to  his  body,  and,  thus  concealed,  he  "  plays 
possum  "  for  a  few  minutes ;  then,  if  not  disturbed  further, 
he  suddenly  gets  upon  his  feet,  and,  with  a  few  backward 
jerks,  disappears  downward. 


ANT-LIONS.  83 

The  ant-lion  (Fig.  87)  is  an  ungainly,  squat,  hump- 
backed, hairy  creature,  accomplished  in  only  two  arts,  — 
the  making  of  these  beautiful  pits,  and  the  disposal  of  the 
insects  that  fall  into  them.  He  is  a  very  cleanly  fellow, 
easily  accommodated  at 
home,  and  well  worth  feed- 
ing, watching,  and  rearing 
for  the  entertainment  and 
instruction  of  his  curious 
and  interesting  habits.  He 
may  be  kept  comfortably  FIQ  g?  _ An  ant_Hon  (larya) 

in  a  box  of  sand  on  one's 

table.  When  placed  in  it  he  will  quickly  descend  from 
view ;  but  the  following  morning  one  will  find  that  a  pit 
has  been  made,  and  in  its  bottom  there  may  perhaps  be 
seen  the  tips  of  a  pair  of  widely  opened  jaws  and  the  tops 
of  a  pair  of  eyes.  To  make  the  purpose  of  his  position 
perfectly  clear,  one  will  need  but  to  place  an  ant  where  it 
will  run  over  the  edge  of  the  pit. 

He  will,  of  course,  have  to  be  fed,  but  there  are  usually 
about  a  place  plenty  of  insects  that  can  be  spared  for  such 
purposes, —  ants,  flies,  caterpillars,  etc.  Though  he  prefers 
ants,  he  will  eat  and  thrive  on  almost  any  other  insects  of 
small  size. 

It  will  be  interesting: 

(1)  To  surprise  him  in  the  act  of  making  a  pit  in  order 
to  see  how  it  is  done. 

(2)  To  drop  in  the  pit  a  big  and  active  ant,  in  order  to 
see  how  the  ant-lion  shovels  sand  from  under  it  to  bring 
it  within  reach,  also  sometimes  throws  sand  into  the  air  in 
such  a  way  that  it  will  fall  upon  the  ant,  knocking  it  down 
toward  the  bottom. 


84  OUTDOOR   STUDIES. 

(3)  To  drop  into  the  pit  an  insect  more  powerful  than 
the  ant-lion,  and  see  what  will  happen. 

(4)  To   drop   into    the   pit  a  very    hard-shelled   snout 
beetle,92  and  note  the  outcome. 

(5)  To  watch  the  conclusion  of  a  meal  to  see  what  the 
ant-lion  does  with  the  remains  of  his  victim. 

(6)  To  cover  the  box  with  netting  when  the  ant-lion  is 
grown  and  no  longer  eats  nor  makes  pits,  so  that  after  he 
becomes  a  winged  insect  he  cannot  escape. 

When  several  ant-lions  are  kept  together  in  one  box,  at 
least  four  square  inches  of  surface  should  be  allowed  for 
each,  so  that  there  will  be  room  for  the  formation  of  per- 
fect pitfalls. 

There  are  times  after  full  feeding  when  the  ant-lion  will 
not  make  a  pit;  having  all  his  wants  satisfied,  he  is  con- 
tent to  lie  still  in  the  unruffled  sand.  Doubtless  there  are 


FIG.  88.— The  adult  ant-lion. 

other  times  when,  his  lot  being  cast  upon  a  bank  where 
ants  and  other  ground  insects  suitable  for  food  are  few, 
he  waits  and  waits  and  waits,  motionless,  at  the  bottom, 
finding  it  a  very  long  time  between  meals. 

But  whether  he  feeds  frequently  or  seldom,  there  comes 


ANT-LIONS. 


85 


a  time  in  his  life  when  he  loses  his  appetite  entirely,  and 
ceases  forever  from  shaping  treacherous  slopes.  Then  he 
descends  a  little  deeper,  spins  about  himself  a  thin  cocoon 
of  silk  to  which  the  sand  adheres  on  the  outside,  and  trans- 
forms within  it  into  a  pupa.  Here  he  remains  a  month  or 
more  inactive,  and  at  last  emerges  the  beautiful  insect93 
shown  in  Fig.  88,  so  changed  in  every  feature  as  hardly 
to  be  recognized  unless  one  knows  his  history.  On  hot 
days  in  summer  one  may  see  him  flying  about  low  ridges 
by  banks  of  streams  and  elsewhere,  slowly  flapping  his 
long,  elegant,  gauzy  wings. 


THE   SCIENTIFIC   NAMES   OF  THE   PLANTS  AND    ANIMALS 
DISCUSSED   IN   THE   PRECEDING   PAGES. 

[The  numbers  are  those  given  consecutively  in  the  text.] 


I. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 
IO. 
II. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
1  8. 
19. 
2O. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 
31. 
32. 
33. 
34. 
35. 


Linaria  vulgaris,  Miller. 
BotnbttSy  sp.  ? 
Apis  mellljica,  Linn. 
Tamias  striatus,  Linn. 
Fagus  ferricginea,  Ait. 
Qitercus  Prinus,  Linn. 
Mitchella  repens,  Linn. 
Polygonatum  giganteum,  Dietr. 
Aralia  racemosa,  Linn. 
Potentilla  Canadensis,  Linn. 
Diastrophus  potentillcCy  Bass. 
DiastrophuS)  sp.  ? 
Rhodites  roses  t  Linn. 
Diastrophus  nebulosus,  O.  S. 
Celtis  occidentalis,  Linn. 
Tilia  Americana,  Linn. 
Carya,  sp.  ? 

Populus  monilifera,  Ait. 
Pemphigius  populicaulis,  Fitch. 
CynipidfB. 
Cecidomyiidtz. 
Tenthredinidce. 
Pontania  pomum,  Walsh. 
Salix  fragilis,  Linn. 
Cecidomyia  strobiloides  ,  Walsh. 
Salix  discolor,  Muhl. 
Cecidomyia  albovittata,  Walsh. 
Cecidomyia,  sp.  ? 
Salix  longifolia,  Muhl. 
Cecidomyia,  sp.  ? 
Rhodites  bicolor,  Harr. 
Solidago  Canadensis,  Linn. 
Solidago  latifolia,  Linn. 
Solidago  rigida,  Linn. 
Solidago  lanceolata,  Linn.,  or  S. 
tenuifolia,  Pursh. 


36.  Dendroica  cestiva,  Gmelin. 

37.  Rana  virescetis,  Kalm. 

38.  (Ecanthus  niveus,  Serv. 

39.  Epicauta  Pennsylvania,  De  G. 

40.  Cyllene  robinice,  Foist. 

41.  Cauliognathus     Pennsylvanicus, 

De  G. 

42.  Thomisidce. 

43.  Phymata  wolffii,  Stal. 

44.  Species  of  Lyc&na  Cyaniris,  etc. 

45.  Species  of  Chrysophanns,  Heodes, 

etc. 

46.  Chrysophanus  thce,  Gray. 

47.  Not  described  (?). 

48.  7'rypeta  solidaginis,  Fitch. 

49.  Gelechia  galltz-solidaginis,  Riley. 

50.  Pcedisca  Scudderiana,  Clemens.' 

51.  Not  described  (?). 

52.  Cecidomyia  anthrophila,  O.  S. 

53.  Cecidomyia  racemicola,  O.  S. 

54.  I  find  no  description  of  this  gall. 

55.  Solidago  casia,  Linn. 

56.  Geometridce. 

57.  Synchlora  rubivoraria,  Riley. 

58.  Entilia  conca-va,  Say. 

59.  Eumenesfraternus,  Say. 

60.  Corvns  Americanus,  Aud. 

61.  Merula  migratoria,  Linn. 

62.  Arvicola  Pennsylvanicus,  Ord. 

63.  Libellula  semifasciata,  Burm. 

64.  Ltbellulidne. 

65.  Libellula  pulchella,  Drury. 

66.  Libellula  trimaculata,  De  G. 

67.  Epicordulia  princeps,  Hagen. 

68.  Tramea  onusta,  Hagen. 

69.  Perithemis  domitia,  Drury. 


88 


SCIENTIFIC   NAMES. 


70.  Celithemis  eponina,  Drury. 

71.  Ischnura  verticalis,  Say. 

72.  Enallagma  canmculatum, 

Morse. 

73.  Species  of  Lestes. 

74.  Calopteryx  maculata,  Beauv. 

75.  sEschnince. 

76.  Anax  junius,  Drury. 

77.  Sympetrum     (Diplax)      illotum, 

Hagen. 

78.  GomphincB. 

79.  Alaus  oculatus,  Linn. 

80.  Elaterida-. 

81.  Trichius  affinis,  Horn. 


82.  Rhus  glabra,  Linn. 

83.  Ceanothus  Americamts,  Linn. 

84.  Cercyonis  nephele,  Kirb. 

85.  Papilio polyxenes,  Fabr.  —P.  aste- 

rias,  Cramer. 

86.  Pastinaca  sativa,  Linn. 

87.  Carum  Carui,  Linn. 

88.  Amia  calva.  Linn. 

89.  Tipula  ?,  sp.  ? 

90.  Limnophila  luteipennis,  O.  S. 

91.  Mynneleonida. 

92.  Suborder  Rhynchophora  of  Cf/^- 

optera. 

93.  Dendroleon  obsoletus,  Say. 


DIGEST   OF  THE   PRECEDING  LIST. 

Numbers  I,  5-10, 15-18,  24,  26,  29,  32-35,  55,  82,  83,  86,  and  87  are  flower- 
ing plants ;  the  others  are  animals. 
Numbers  4  and  62  are  mammals. 
Numbers  36,  60,  and  61  are  birds. 
Number  37  is  a  batrachian. 
Number  88  is  a  fish. 
The  remaining  numbers  are  insects. 

Numbers  2,  3,  11-14,  20,  22,  23,  31,  and  59  are  Hymenoptera. 
Numbers  21,  25,  27,  28,  30,  48,  51-54,  89,  and  90  are  Diptera. 
Numbers  44-47,  49,  50,  56,  57,  84,  and  85  are  Lepidoptera. 
Numbers  39-41,  79-81,  and  92  are  Coleoptera. 
Numbers  63-78  are  Odonata  (Neuroptera). 
Numbers  19,  43,  and  58  are  Hemiptera. 
Numbers  91  and  93  are  Neuroptera. 
Number  38,  Orthoptera. 
Number  42,  Arachnida. 


INDEX. 


Amberwing,  59. 
ambush  bug,  35,  36. 
ant,  43,  82,  83. 
anther,  31. 
ant-lion,  81. 
apple  gall,  23. 

Beaked  flower  gall,  41. 
bee,  II,  35. 
beech  nuts,  16. 
beetle,  9,  34,  74,  75,  84. 
blackberry,  21. 
black  blister  beetle,  34. 
black  swallowtail,  77. 
black  wing,  63. 

nymph,  68. 

blister  beetle,  34. 

blues,  36. 

breastbone,  25. 

breeding  cages,  27,  28,  70,  84. 

bronze  copper,  36. 

bumblebee,  9,  35. 

bunch  galls,  40. 

butter  and  eggs,  7. 

butterflies,  9,  36,  77. 

Caraway,  77. 
chipmunk,  13. 
cinquefoil,  19. 
click  beetle,  74. 
collecting,  28,  52,  69,  82. 
cone  gall,  24. 
copper,  36. 
cottonwood,  22. 
crab  spider,  35. 
crane-fly  larva,  80. 
cricket,  33. 
crow,  47. 
cyanide  bottle,  12. 


89 


Damsel  fly,  61. 

nymph,  67. 

darner,  61. 

dim-eyed  grayling,  76. 

dogfish,  79. 

downy  flower  gall,  41. 

dragon  fly,  54-71. 

Eggs  of  tree  cricket,  33. 
elliptical  gall,  38. 
eye-spots,  74,  77. 

Flower  beetle,  75. 
frog,  33. 

Gall  gnats,  25,  41,  42. 

guests  of,  25. 

galls,  18-28,  38-42. 
goldenrod,  28-46. 

blue-stem,  32. 

broad-leaved,  32. 

Canada,  32. 

flowers  of,  30,  31. 

narrow-leaved,  33. 

rigid,  33. 

underground  shoots  of,  30. 

grasshopper,  33. 
green  darner,  64. 

nymph,  67. 

ground  squirrel,  12. 
guest  gall  gnats,  25. 

Hackberry,  22. 
hickory,  22. 
honey  bugs,  44. 
honeydew,  44. 

Killing  insects  for  specimens,  12,  28. 


INDEX. 


Larva,  18,  20,  23,  27,  39,  40,  42,  77, 
78,  79,  80,  83. 

defined,  18. 

leaf  galls,  22,  42. 
leaf  mine,  42. 
leaf  roll,  40. 
linden,  22. 
locust  beetle,  34. 

Marsh  nun,  62. 

nymph,  68. 

meadow  mouse,  52. 
measuring  worm,  43. 
moth,  35,  38,  40,  43. 

Nectar,  8,  10,  34. 
New  Jersey  tea,  75. 
nymph,  64-71. 
defined,  64. 

Owl  beetle,  74. 

Palate,  7. 

parasite,  28. 

parsnip,  77. 

partridge-berry,  16. 

pineapple  gall,  25. 

pistil  of  butter  and  eggs,  1 1. 

of  goldenrod,  31. 

pitfalls,  81-84. 
pollen,  II,  34. 
pollen  basket,  12. 
pollination,  12,  31. 
proboscis  of  bumblebee,  10. 

of  butterfly,  36. 

protective  coloration,  14. 

pupa,  20,  23,  26,  27,  28,  38,  39,  42, 

79 
defined,  20. 


Robin,  52. 

round  gall  of  goldenrod,  37. 

Scarecrows,  52. 
scarred  gall,  39. 
.scent  organ,  79. 
seed  distribution,  32. 
skimmers,  54-60. 
snowy  tree  cricket,  33. 
soldier  beetle,  34. 
Solomon's  seal,  16. 
spikenard,  16. 
spiny  rose  gall,  27. 
sportsmanship,  51- 
stamens,  II,  12,  30,  31. 
stem  borer,  37. 
stick  caterpillar,  43. 
stigma,  11,  31. 
sumach,  75. 
swallowtail,  77. 
sweetbrier,  21. 

Ten-spot,  57. 

transformation  of  skimmers,  65,  71, 

tree  cricket,  33,  34. 

Vase-maker  wasp,  45. 

Warning  coloration,  73  80. 
wasp,  35,  45. 
water  net,  69. 
water  prince,  58. 
whitetail,  57. 

nymph,  65. 

willow,  23. 
wind  sprite,  60. 
wood  nymph,  76. 
woody  gall,  26. 

Yellow  warbler,  33. 


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late a  love  of  nature,  and  of  science,  the  interpreter  of 
nature. 

The  first  book  of  the  series  confines  its  subjects  to 
mammals  because  the  facts  connected  with  this  class  are 
apparent  and  are  more  easily  comprehended.  The  second 
book  enters  the  field  of  the  lower  group  of  animal  life, 
where  the  facts  while  more  remote  from  ordinary  view  are 
even  more  interesting.  The  illustrations  in  both  books 
are  numerous  and  in  the  highest  degree  accurate  and 
helpful,  being  mostly  by  artists  whose  study  and  practice 
have  made  them  specialists  in  particular  departments  of 
animal  drawing. 

Copies  of  McGuffey's  Natural  History  Readers  will  be  sent  prepaid  to 
any  address,  on  receipt  of  the  price,  by  the  Publishers  : 

American    Book   Company 

New  York  *  Cincinnati  »  Chicago 

(26) 


Zoology  and  Natural  History 

Burnet's  School  Zoology 

By  MARGARETTA  BURNET.     Cloth,  I2mo,  216  pages        .     75  cents 

A  new  text-book  for  high  schools  and  academies,  by  a  practical  teacher;  sufficiently 
elementary  for  beginners  and  full  enough  for  the  usual  course  in  Natural  History. 

Needham's  Elementary  Lessons  in  Zoology 

By  JAMES  G.  NEEDHAM,  M.S.     Cloth,  i2mo,  302  pages    .     90  cents 

An  elementary  text-book  for  high  schools,  academies,  normal  schools  and  prepara- 
tory college  classes.  Special  attention  is  given  to  the  study  by  scientific  methods, 
laboratory  practice,  microscopic  study  and  practical  zootomy. 

Cooper's  Animal  Life 

By  SARAH  COOPER.     Cloth,  i2mo,  427  pages  .         .         .          $1.25 

An  attractive  book  for  young  people.  Admirably  adapted  for  supplementary 
readings  in  Natural  History. 

Holders'  Elementary  Zoology 

By  C.  F.  HOLDER,  and  J.  B.  HOLDER,  M.D. 

Cloth,  I2mo,  401  pages     .         .         .         .         .         .         ,  . "•-      $1.20 

A  text-book  for  high  school  classes  and  other  schools  of  secondary  grade. 

Hooker's  Natural  History 

By  WORTHINGTON  HOOKER,  M.D.    Cloth,  i2mo,  394  pages     90  cents 
Designed  either  for  the  use  of  schools  or  for  the  general  reader. 

Morse's  First  Book  in  Zoology 

By  EDWARD  S.  MORSE,  Ph.D.     Boards,  I2mo,  204  pages     87  cents 
For  the  first  study  of  animal  life.     The  examples  presented  are  such  as  are  com- 
mon and  familiar. 

Nicholson's  Text-Book  of  Zoology 

By  H.  A.  NICHOLSON,  M.D.     Cloth,  I2mo,  421  pages     .          $1.38 

Revised  edition.  Adapted  for  advanced  grades  of  high  schools  or  academies  and 
for  first  work  in  college  classes. 

Steele's  Popular  Zoology 

By  J.  DORM  AN  STEELE,  Ph.D.,  and  J.  W.  P.  JENKS. 

Cloth,  1 2mo,  369  pages $1.20 

For  academies,  preparatory  schools  and  general  reading.      This  popular  work  is 

marked  by  the  same  clearness  of  method  and  simplicity  of  statement  that  characterize 

all  Prof.  Steele's  text-books  in  the  Natural  Sciences. 

Tenneys'  Natural  History  of  Animals 

By  SANBORN  TENNEY  and  ABBEY  A.  TENNEY. 

Revised  Edition.     Cloth,  I2mo,  281  pages        .         .         .  $1.20 

This  new  edition  has   been   entirely   reset   and   thoroughly   revised,    the   recent 

changes  in  classification  introduced,  and  the  book  in  all  respects  brought  up  to  date. 

Treat's  Home  Studies  in  Nature 

By  Mrs.  MARY  TREAT.     Cloth,  i2mo,  244  pages     .         .90  cents 

An  interesting  and  instructive  addition  to  the  works  on  Natural  History. 


Copies  of  any  of  the  above  books  will  be  sent  prepaid  to  any  address,  on 
receipt  of  the  price,  by  the  Publishers  : 

American  Book  Company 

New  York  *  Cincinnati  *  Chicago 

(92) 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN     INITIAL    FINE     OF     25     CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  Sl.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


OCT  26  1932 

SEP  2  0  1973 
SEP10JM3 


LD  21- 


UNIVERSITY  OP  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


